Feb. 17, 2011 - The Concordia Cougars' 2010-11 season has been one of intense, down-to-the-wire games, and tonight's home game against Benedictine University was no exception. Both teams had plenty at stake but, in the end, it was Benedictine that realized its goal of winning the South Division of the Northern Athletics Conference with a 70-67 victory. Concordia's loss officially ended its chances of qualifying for the NAC Tournament as the Cougars slipped to fifth place.
The Cougars could pin tonight's loss to a very rough first half in which they were out of rhythm offensively. Concordia took an early 4-2 lead on layups by
Jeff Weberg (Rockford, IL/Lutheran) and
Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) but then went scoreless over the next six minutes. The Eagles took advantage by scoring 10 straight points before
Marlin Vilius (Eustis, FL/H.S.) finally broke the string with a score at the 10:49 mark.
The Eagles built their lead as high as 15 points before settling for a 31-18 halftime lead. While Jerrell Tribble (nine points) and Cameron Snelling (four points, 11 rebounds) caused enough headaches in the half, the Cougars hurt themselves more with 6-30 shooting from the field and 4-11 from the free throw line.
With the realization that their tournament hopes were hanging by a thread, the Cougars came out a different team in the second half. Trailing 38-24 after two minutes, Weberg's layup and
Larrell Gary's (Chicago, IL/Whitney Young) three got the Cougars going. A three by Nate Green stemmed the tide momentarily, but Concordia answered with a 12-1 run over the next few minutes. Gordon scored five of those points including a three-point play, and
Deontay Young (Chicago, IL/Lincoln Park) hit a long three to make the score Benedictine 43, Concordia 41 with 14:15 still to play.
Green put the Eagles back up by four, but Gordon burned the Eagles' interior defense with another drive to the hole. Moments later,
Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) scored on a putback as the Cougars caught the visitors at 45-45. Snelling's free throw put Benedictine back in the lead briefly, but Gary drove a partisan Cougar crowd into a frenzy with a three from the right side for Concordia's first lead of the game at 48-46 with 11:43 remaining.
The Cougars built their lead to three points on two different occasions, and their final lead came with 1:57 left when Weberg hit a jumper in the lane for a 64-63 edge. But Green snuck inside for a score seconds later as the Eagles reclaimed the lead. Gordon and Gary missed jumpers over the next minute, and Terry Licht then gave the Eagles some breathing room with two free throws at the 17-second mark.
Gordon gave the Cougars one final hope as he drilled a three to make it a two-point game. However, the Cougars were forced to foul with 1.2 seconds left. Tribble split his free throws for a 70-67 lead, but the Cougars could not get off a desperation three-pointer for the tie.
Concordia was led by Gordon who matched his career-high from Tuesday night with 20 points, 18 in the second half. Gordon shot 9-14 from the field and also led the Cougars in rebounds with eight. Weberg scored 15 points, and Gary recorded all 10 of his points in the second half.
Tribble and Licht led Benedictine with 18 points each. Green put up 11 points and five assists, and Snelling added 11 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. The latter stat helped Benedictine to a final 41-35 edge on the glass.
The Cougars (8-15, 6-10 NAC) will finish their regular season on Saturday in the NAC Challenge Game. Concordia will either play at Wisconsin Lutheran College or host Maranatha Baptist Bible College, but they will not know which scenario until Friday night. Tonight's WLC-MBBC game was suspended in overtime with Maranatha holding a one-point lead. Fans are encouraged to check out
www.cucougars.com on Friday night when the game schedule will be posted.
