SPRING ARBOR, MI - Tuesday night's basketball game with Concordia University was going to be a big test for the Spring Arbor University men's hoop team. The guys passed this test, but according to Coach Ryan Cottingham, there is still room for improvement.

The Cougars bested the Cardinals from Concordia 72-63 in a tightly contested game in which the outcome was in doubt the entire game.

"Concordia is a good basketball team," said Cottingham. "Coming in here 2-0 and they were receiving votes (NAIA Polls) so we had to really step it up and I think we made some progress and steps in the right direction tonight."

Chris Bellamy had one of the best games of his career scoring 25 points and ripping down 14 rebounds particularly in the first half scoring 19 points and 9 rebounds. Bellamy was 9 for 15 from the field including two of three from three point range.

Matt Howe, who has played consistently solid basketball in the three games this season, picked up his first double-double of the year knocking down 18 points and 10 rebounds. Howe has scored 22, 15, and 18 points, and rebound totals of 9, 9, and 10 so far this season.

"Howe and Bellamy were special tonight and played like we need them to play," continued Cottingham. "They play like impact players and carried us throughout much of the game. They showed tremendous poise and we were able to ride them quite a bit tonight."

A bright spot statistically was the battle of the boards for SAU, which the Cougars won 39-35.

Rob Hogans was the third and final player scoring in double digits for SAU as he scored 12 points.

Historically, Spring Arbor has been one of the best free throw shooting teams in the nation and it appears this year's team is once again money from the line. Last night's performance was 17 of 19 from the charity stripe and on the season, while early, the Cougars have connected on 53 of 66 setting a 80.3% pace.

Spring Arbor will head to Indiana Wesleyan University for this weekend's MCC-WHAC Challenge for a Friday night matchup with Aquinas College (1-2). Starting time for that game is 6:00. On Saturday the Cougars will face Cornerstone University (0-1) at 1:00 pm.