Feb. 21, 2012 - A thrilling season with lots of memorable moments, both uplifting and disheartening, came to an end tonight for the Concordia Cougar men's basketball team. The fourth-seeded Cougars hosted the fifth-seeded Lakeland College Muskies at Geiseman Gymnasium in a first-round Northern Athletics Conference Tournament game. Both teams battled tooth and nail over the 40 minutes, but Lakeland's Justin Ward proved to be the deciding factor. The 6'9" Ward scored four of his game-high 24 points in the final two minutes to snap a 62-62 tie and lead the Muskies to a 68-62 win and a semifinal date with Concordia Wisconsin Thursday night.
One goal of Concordia's game plan was to contain forward Jake Schwarz and guard Josh Regal, and the Cougars did just that in the first half. Schwarz was limited to 0-4 from the field and just 1-2 at the line while Regal was held scoreless. However, Ward and James Oshkeshequoam heated up quickly from the opening tip, and they stretched the Concordia defense with some early three-pointers.
Issa Avery (Evanston, IL/St. Benedict) had the early hot hand for the Cougars, scoring the first five points.
Marlin Vilius (Eustis, FL/H.S.) also provided a spark with a three-point play on the fast break as the Cougars took a 12-7 lead. The lead later stretched to six before Ward hit consecutive threes to tie the game at 21-21. The lead see-sawed back and forth the remainder of the half until Joey Burris' free throw with six seconds left before halftime gave the visitors a 35-34 lead.
Lakeland came out aggresively to start the second half and scored the first five points on Ward's three-point play and Schwarz's first field goal on a driving layup. The Cougars regrouped on Avery's three and eventually caught the Muskies at 44-44 on
Keegan Johnson's (Sycamore, IL) runner in the lane.
Several more lead changes ensued with the Cougars taking their final lead with 5:21 remaining. Vilius drained a three from the left wing to put Concordia up 60-58, but Ward quickly evened the score with two free throws. The Muskies then took the lead on Regal's layup, two of his 11 second-half points. But Vilius brought the Cougars right back after soaring above the Muskies to collect an offensive rebound. Vilius was fouled and went to the line where he hit the final two of his career-high 15 points for the 10th and final tie score of the night.
On the other end of the floor, Schwarz missed a layup but Ward went over the Cougar defender and slammed the ball home to give Lakeland the lead at the 1:26 mark. After Avery missed a jumper, the Muskies came down and ran the shot clock down to the final two seconds before Ward hit a 10-foot baseline jumper for a huge insurance basket with 27 seconds remaining.
The Cougars had one final chance, but
Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) missed a three from the top of the key. Schwarz corraled the rebound, was fouled and sank two final free throws to seal the Muskies' win.
The final shooting stats showed Lakeland with 22-55 (.400) from the field, 8-27 (.296) from three-point range and 16-22 (.727) from the line. Concordia shot 23-60 (.383) overall, 5-17 (.294) from three-point range and 11-15 (.733) from the line. Vilius and Gordon shared Concordia scoring honors with 15 each while Avery finished with 14. Lakeland's Ward finished with 8-12 from the field (3-5 threes) and 5-7 from the line for his 24 points.
Concordia finished the season with a 10-16 overall record but 10-6 in NAC play with a shared South Division title. Tonight was the final collegiate game for Avery, Gordon, Hineman and Johnson.
