Dec. 20, 2010 - The Concordia Cougars and Benedictine Eagles renewed their long-standing rivalry tonight at BU's Rice Center. Tonight was one of the more physical matchups in the long history between the two, and the Eagles got the better of it with a 78-74 victory.
Benedictine's Cameron Snelling had the early hot hand for the hosts, scoring their first seven points. However, it was the Eagles' three-point shooting and defense that would soon take over. Dario Jokic would hit consecutive threes, part of a 4-8 shooting half from long range. On the other end of the floor, the Eagles forced the Cougars into 13 first-half turnovers including four charges in the paint. Concordia trailed 40-26 at the half.
Deontay Young (Chicago, IL/Lincoln Park) and Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) each shot 3-4 from the field for the half, accounting for 14 of Concordia's 26 points. However, thanks in part to the turnovers, the Cougars had 10 less shots from the field.
Trailing by 16 in the second half, the Cougars looked to rally as Ryan Tyszkiewicz (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook) nailed a three and a long two to bring the visitors within eleven. Foul trouble would prevent Concordia from getting any closer as 10 team fouls in the first 10 minutes would send Benedictine to the foul line a total of 37 times in the second half. The Cougars were whistled for 25 fouls in the half to the Eagles' 12.
The game was not quite as close as the final score indicated as the Cougars made the score closer with 11 points in the final 27 seconds - threes by Tyszkiewicz, Al Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower) and Mike Lichtenheld (Woodstock, IL/H.S.) and a final bucket by James Morgan (Cedar Rapids, IA/Kennedy).
Jokic led all scorers with 18 points on 6-14 shooting from outside the arc. Nate Green and Jerrell Tribble added 13 each for the Eagles (4-4, 2-2 NAC). Larrell Gary (Chicago, IL/Whitney Young) topped the Cougars' scoring list with 11 points while Young added 10 points and five assists.
Concordia (5-4, 1-4 NAC) will break for Christmas before heading to California to take on Concordia University Irvine on Dec. 29 and Pomona-Pitzer College on New Year's Eve.
