Feb. 9, 2011 - An early 9-0 run in the second half gave the visiting Aurora Spartans the upper hand in tonight's Northern Athletics Conference game at Geiseman Gymnasium. The Concordia Cougars could not recover from the Spartans' burst, and the Cougars saw their six-game winning streak halted by a score of 74-65.
The two teams played a crisp, well-paced first half. Concordia jumped out to a 12-5 lead, fueled by Deontay Young (Chicago, IL/Lincoln Park) and Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead). However, Aurora fought back with some strong three-point shooting to claim a 21-18 edge midway through the half. The lead went back and forth for the remainder of the half with the Spartans taking a slim 33-31 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Young, who was recognized prior to the game for reaching 1,000 points for his career in Saturday's game, played a monster first half. The senior guard shot 4-8 from the field and added a couple of free throws for 10 points while pulling down nine of Concordia's 22 rebounds. Hineman finished the half with 11 points on 5-7 shooting.
Larrell Gary (Chicago, IL/Whitney Young) scored the first points of the second half to tie the game briefly. However, Aurora then unleashed their 9-0 run with Scott Laskowski and Mike Bumber accounting for all nine points. Five points by Gary put the Cougars back within four, but the Spartans answered with some strong inside play. Laskowski scored on a runout, and Skyler Ormsbee scored five straight points including a three-point play to make the score Spartans 49, Cougars 38 with 14:10 left.
Concordia's fouls put Aurora in the super bonus midway through the half, and the visitors were able to maintain a comfortable lead for a while with some accurate free throw shooting. Their lead stretched as high as 14 points (62-48) with just under eight minutes remaining.
Jeff Weberg (Rockford, IL/Lutheran) and Gary rallied the Cougars to within 68-63 with 1:30 to play, but the Spartans scored their final six points at the line. The Cougars missed a couple of threes in the final minute, and time finally ran out on the home team's comeback attempts.
Weberg led the Cougars with 17 points, 13 in the second half, and he is now within 16 points of becoming the Cougars' third 1,000 point scorer this season. Gary scored 13 points, followed by Young with 12 and Hineman with 11. Young finished with a team-high 11 rebounds.
Laskowski led all scorers with 23 points on 9-11 from the field and 5-8 from the line. Bumber added 16 points, followed by Ryan Crow with 13 and Damian Lewis with 11.
The Cougars (13-8, 6-7 NAC) remain one-half game ahead of Rockford College for fourth place in the NAC South Division. Concordia will play at the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Saturday afternoon.
