Jan. 18, 2011 - Tonight's men's game, the first of three this week for Concordia-Chicago, pitted the Cougars against one of their oldest rivals in the Aurora Spartans. As with many good rivalries, the two traditional foes treated the fans to another white-knuckle ride for 40 minutes. And, for the second time in the last three games stretching over the last 13 months, this game went the Cougars' way. A three-point basket by senior Jacob O'Hara (Sheffield Village, OH/Lutheran West) with 56 seconds left made the difference as Concordia slipped by Aurora 76-74.
Concordia's offense was rolling early. O'Hara, making his second straight start, hit a pair of threes from the left side. Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) powered his way to a couple of inside baskets, one going for a three-point play, and Jeff Weberg (Rockford, IL/Lutheran) struck for seven points. All of this added up to an 18-13 Cougar lead after seven minutes.
The Cougar offense continued to click as Marlin Vilius (Eustis, FL/H.S.) nailed a three from the deep left corner. A nice series of passes led to Weberg's lane jumper on the next possession, and Concordia took its first double-figure lead at 25-15.
Late in the half, the Cougars hit a lull, and that was enough for the Spartans to come back and take the lead. Aurora's bench did much of the damage, chipping in with 15 first-half points, and the hosts emerged after 20 minutes with a 39-36 lead over the Cougars.
Weberg popped in 11 points to lead all scorers at the break while Hineman added nine points on 3-5 shooting and 3-3 at the foul line. Concordia finished the half with 41 percent shooting on 13-32 while Aurora shot 43 percent on 13 of 30. Both teams hit for four three-pointers, but the Spartans had a 9-6 advantage at the charity stripe.
Aurora scored the opening two points of the second half before Concordia came back with three free throws by Weberg and a long-distance three by Larrell Gary (Chicago, IL/Whitney Young) for a 42-41 lead. However, the Spartans answered back with eight straight points. Weberg broke the string with a pair of free throws, but Aurora claimed their largest lead at 52-44 when Mark Adams was fouled shooting a three and connected on all of his free shots.
The Spartans continued to go inside, but the Cougars stayed close as Al Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower) came off the bench to hit a pair of threes from the left wing. O'Hara followed with a three from the right corner moments later, and Concordia was back within 64-59 with 8:57 left.
The comeback continued as Weberg nailed a three after Hineman made a great hustle play to collect an offensive rebound. after a stop, Deontay Young (Chicago, IL/Lincoln Park) hit a 10-foot baseline jumper to knot the game 64-64 with just under seven minutes left.
From that point, the game was never more than a one-possession lead for either team. A free throw by Aurora's Ryan Crow (12 points) made the score Aurora 72, Concordia 70, but the Cougars came down the court with Young finding O'Hara alone in the left corner. O'Hara calmly drilled his fourth trey in five attempts for a one-point lead with 56 seconds left.
Two free throws by Hineman stretched the lead to three before Joel Iventosch matched them with 16.6 seconds left. Young was fouled with 12 seconds left and made the first for a 76-74 lead. He missed the second with the Spartans collecting the rebound. With seconds left, Bumber missed on a 10-footer from the wing. The ball was tipped and eventually wound up, appropriately, in the hands of O'Hara as time expired.
OHara finished with a career-high 15 points, and Hineman ended up with 13 points and eight rebounds. Weberg was Concordia's leading scorer with 23 points on 7-16 from the field (2-5 threes) and 7-8 from the line.
The win was the first for Concordia in Aurora's Thornton Gymnasium since Feb. 16, 1994 when the Cougars won by a similar 78-75 score. "This was a big victory for our guys besides the fact that we needed a win, plain and simple," said head coach Tyler Jones. "Everyone knew that we hadn't won here in such a long time, and getting it done tonight in the way that we did was very special. We hope that this win can be the starting point for a good run."
The Cougars (7-6, 2-5 NAC) will return to action Thursday night at Rockford College.
