Jan. 17, 2012 - The Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team held the Aurora Spartans scoreless over the final 4:05 of tonight's Northern Athletics Conference game at Geiseman Gymnasium and took away a 61-54 win over their old archrivals.

The 54 points allowed were the fewest the Cougars have allowed in a game since Dec. 31, 2010 in a game against Pomona-Pitzer College. It was also the fewest Concordia has allowed Aurora since 2003 when the Spartans scored 37.

Concordia took an early 9-6 lead as Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) got out of the gates quickly with six points. However, Aurora's Ryan Crow hit a couple of three-pointers, the second one giving the Spartans a 13-10 lead. Aurora held the lead for most of the half as 10 first-half turnovers kept Concordia from getting into a steady rhythm. The Cougars tied the game briefly at 23-23, but a three by Esteban Vega helped the Spartans reclaim the lead, and the visitors took a slim 28-27 lead to the locker room at half.

The Cougars came out aggressively in the second half and pushed the attack, drawing some early fouls against the Spartans. Concordia took the lead six minutes in as Keegan Johnson (Sycamore, IL/H.S.), who played an outstanding defensive game with seven steals, scored on a layup for a 34-32 advantage.

The home team's lead held for a while before Scott Laskowski scored underneath to put Aurora up 50-49 with 6:12 remaining. Laskowski scored again a few minutes later to extend the lead to 54-51 before the Cougars went to work.

Gordon connected on two free throws to make it a one-point game. Moments later, Gordon stole the ball and scored on a driving, twisting layup at the 1:46 mark to vault the Cougars into the lead. Following a missed free throw at the other end, Khirey Floyd (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) split a pair of free throws to give the Cougars a 56-54 lead with 64 ticks left.

The Spartans were off-target on two shots on their following possession, with Floyd blocking Jordan Hester's second-chance attempt. Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) was fouled shortly thereafter and calmly sank both of his shots to make it a four-point game with 32 seconds on the clock.

Concordia put the game on ice as a pass intended for Laskowski under the basket was smartly picked off by Gordon. He got the ball to Hineman who was fouled again and hit two more charity tosses for a 60-54 edge. A missed three and a final free throw by Gordon put the finishing touches on the Cougars' victory.

Gordon led all scorers with 21 points on 6-10 from the field and 9-12 at the line. The 6'3" senior added five rebounds and four steals in his 33 minutes of play. Issa Avery (Evanston, IL/St. Benedict) added a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with three blocks and four steals. The Cougars shot 18-52 (35 percent) from the field but were just two of 13 for 15 percent from three-point range. However, Concordia took advantage of Aurora's foul trouble and hit on 23 of 28 from the foul line for 82 percent. The Cougars' stat line also showed 18 steals for the game against 17 turnovers.

Laskowski led the Spartans (8-7, 4-3 NAC) with 14 points and 12 rebounds, although the Cougars' double and occasional triple-teaming against the 6'5" forward proved mostly effective. Aurora shot 20-51 (39 percent) overall, 8-25 (32 percent) from three-point range and 6-12 (50 percent) from the line. The Spartans were guilty of 24 turnovers while recording nine steals.

Concordia (4-10, 4-4 NAC) returns to action Thursday night when they host Rockford College at 7:00.