Feb. 15, 2011 - It's safe to say that Senior Night for the 2010-11 Concordia men's basketball team is one that no one will forget. Faced with a must-win situation to keep conference tournament hopes alive, the Cougars rose up and defeated Rockford College 67-64. The win moved Concordia back ahead of Rockford into fourth place in the South Division of the Northern Athletics Conference.
The Cougars came roaring out of the starting gate as
Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) split a pair of free throws and added a fastbreak layup to highlight an opening 7-0 run. Concordia rode out some early three-point shooting by Rockford and later bumped the lead up to 24-15 on
Justin Hineman's (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) two free throws at the 7:30 mark.
Rockford battled back late in the half as Clement Robinson contributed 14 points off the bench. Robinson's three free throws tied the game at 27-27, but
Jake O'Hara's (Sheffield Village, OH/Lutheran West) putback and
Larrell Gary's (Chicago, IL/Whitney Young) three let the Cougars regain momentum, and they carried that to a 36-30 lead at the end of the half.
The Cougars did much of their first-half damage inside with Gordon scoring 11 points and Hineman adding eight points. The pair combined for 8-12 shooting from the field and helped the Cougars to a 22-14 edge on the boards.
The game tightened up in the second half as Robert Malone looked to take control of the game. The NAC's leading scorer (24.2 per game) hit baskets from inside and outside as the Regents tied and then took their first lead of the game at 49-47 seven minutes into the half.
The lead changed hands eight times in the half, but Concordia grabbed the advantage for good with 2:55 remaining as
Jeff Weberg (Rockford, IL/Lutheran) snuck inside for a layup. After Rockford then missed two tries from close to the basket, Hineman captured the rebound. The Cougars worked the shot clock and got a key layup from Gordon at the two-minute mark to put the Cougars up 65-62.
Rockford missed an opportunity to catch up as they missed four straight free throws over the next 30 seconds. Once again, the Cougars grabbed a rebound and used the shot clock to their advantage. This time, it was Hineman converting from close in to put the lead at five with 53 seconds left.
The Regents got two free throws from Malone to make it a three-point game. Then, after stopping the Cougars with eight seconds left, the visitors had a final chance to tie the game with a three. As expected, the ball came into Malone's hands, but the Cougars had the double-team pressure on him fron the start. Malone could only let fly a 35-foot shot that hit the back rim hard and bounded away as time ran out.
Interestingly on Senior Night, it was Concordia's two juniors in the starting lineup that led in the scoring column. Gordon recorded a career-high 20 points (9-13 from the field), and Hineman added 16 points (7-9 FG) and a game-high 10 rebounds. The Cougars shot 51 percent on 29 of 57 but struggled at the line with 44 percent on 7-16. However, Concordia enjoyed a 39-27 edge on the glass with
Deontay Young's (Chicago, IL/Lincoln Park) nine rebounds providing strong support.
Among the three seniors in the starting lineup, Young recorded six points and five assists to go with his nine rebounds. Weberg scored six points to go with three rebounds and two assists, and Gary added nine points and three rebounds.
Rockford got a game-high 27 points from Malone (8-21 FG, 2-6 3FG, 9-15 FT) to go with eight rebounds and seven steals. Robinson ended up with 18 points (6-7 FG, 3-3 3FG, 3-5 FT). The Regents shot 41 percent on 21-52 and went 15-24 from the free throw line.
With the win, the Cougars moved one-half game ahead of the Regents for fourth place with a game in hand. That game will take place on Thursday night at 7:00 when Concordia hosts Benedictine University in a make-up of the snowed-out Feb. 1 contest. A Cougar win will advance Concordia into a first-round conference tournament game next week.
