The first home CUI men's basketball game played in front of fans in 21 months featured many exciting moments that tease the season to come. 

Concordia University Irvine opened the regular season against The Master's University on Friday and saw a trio of new Eagles carry the load offensively. With the newly formed "Flight Club" cheering section of students going wild, the Green and Gold raced out to a 41-31 lead at the break behind 15 first-half points from Rodrick McCobb. 

Joining McCobb in double figures on the day was leading scorer Wayne Arnold. The Cal State Fullerton transfer cashed in on five of his nine attempts from downtown and finished with a team-best 24 points. Graduate student Joshua Caston added 18 points and McCobb finished with 16 on the evening. 

The Mustangs fought back in the second half to get back into the contest and for a while it was a back-and-forth seesaw battle. 

Arnold showed off his shooting prowess by knocking down some deep treys to wow the crowd. Caston nearly brought the house down on a dunk after driving through the lane midway through the second half and both teams capitalized off turnovers on the fastbreak. But the Mustangs were able to escape with a 79-76 victory behind 25 points from Davian Brown. 

The contest also featured the first time brothers Jalen Sanders and Kobe Sanders played together for CUI. The duo combined for nine points and ten rebounds and older brother Jalen also added a pair of steals and two blocks to fill out the stat sheet. 

The Eagles shot 38 percent from three-point land (11-for-29) but were outrebounded by 13. Concordia's first victory of the regular season came in historic fashion on Saturday. 

The Eagles broke the century mark and scored 114 points in their win over Cal State Los Angeles. It was the most points CUI or any PacWest Conference men's basketball team has scored since February 6, 2017 and the second-most points for Concordia since joining the league in the school's NCAA DII era. 

Wayne Arnold heated up for 32 points and knocked down six threes to lead the offensive explosion. 

Newcomer Kobe Sanders scored a career-high 19 points and added four assists. Rodrick McCobb provided a solid 15-point outing and Kayle Knuckles hit four three-pointers and finished with 14 points. Both McCobb and Knuckles also pulled down seven rebounds apiece. 

"I was proud of the way we responded after a tough loss (on Friday)," said Ken Ammann. "We came out with good energy and got a much-needed win. Our bench was better than it has been all year so far and that was a huge difference for us. All those guys played very well." 

New Eagles Cristian Butler and Reed Gutierrez made their debuts wearing the Green and Gold and each hit their first career three-pointer in the victory. 

Capistrano Valley HS product Connor Gleason and Westminster High School alum Matthew Brookins also joined the scoring bonanza in the second half and earned their first points of the season. 

The Eagles are back home on Black Friday when they host Bethesda at 3 p.m. Before that home contest, CUI hits the road for two games up in the Pacific Northwest in a weekend tournament next weekend hosted by Western Washington. The Eagles face the Vikings on Friday, No. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

Tags: Alexander Carr, Men's Athletics, fans, game

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