Jan. 19, 2012 - The Concordia Cougars' bid to go over .500 in Northern Athletics Conference play was halted down the stretch of tonight's men's basketball game at Geiseman Gymnasium. Rockford College overcame a five-point deficit with under five minutes left with some clutch shooting from the field and from the free throw line to steal a 73-72 win from Concordia.
The play of Rockford guards Paul Hall and Dominique Walker shot the visitors to a 42-32 lead at the half. Hall buried five of six shots from three-point range, and Walker added a three to beat the halftime buzzer. The two combined for 28 first-half points in leading the visitors to a 13-24 shooting mark (54 percent).
Rockford needed the hot shooting because Concordia was mostly on target themselves. The Cougars shot 52 percent on 14-27 with seven different players hitting the scoring column. However, Concordia managed just two three-point baskets to Rockford's seven; the Cougars also hurt themselves with 11 turnovers for the half.
As hot as Rockford was to end the half, they came out cold to start the second half, and the Cougars took advantage. Consecutive threes by Khirey Floyd (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) and Issa Avery (Evanston, IL/St. Benedict) pulled the Cougars to within 45-44. Shortly after that, Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) and Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) scored from in close to give Concordia the lead at 51-47 with 12 minutes remaining.
The Cougars took their biggest lead of eight points (57-49) with just under 10 minutes left when Cole Reindl (Germantown, WI/H.S.) hit a jumper in the lane. Rockford got back to within a point over the next few minutes, but a layup by Avery and Al Kahlfeldt's (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower) off a pretty pass by Gordon put Concordia up 63-58 with just under five minutes to go.
Rockford scored the next four points to edge closer. Avery's jumper stalled the Regents' momentum momentarily, but Alen McVeigh buried a three from the right corner for his only points of the game, tying the score 65-65. Rockford then took the lead after Concordia missed two shots. Hall was fouled and hit both free throws to put the visitors back into the lead at 67-65 with 2:07 left. The Cougars then missed a three for the lead, and Rockford's Walker came down the floor to hit the biggest three of the night, putting his team up five.
Still trailing by five in the final 27 seconds, Concordia looked to rally. Avery hit a three to make it a two-point game. The Regents' Grant Olsen was then fouled, but he missed the first free throw and made the second to keep the door open for the Cougars. However, Avery missed two threes in the final seconds; Floyd tipped in the second miss at the buzzer, but the Cougars still came up one point short.
Hall led all scorers with 24 points on 6-11 shooting (5-8 threes) and 7-7 at the line. Walker followed with 22 on 7-13 shooting (2-5 threes) and 6-7 at the line. Rockford finished with 47 percent shooting on 21-45 but 46 percent (10-22) on their threes. The Regents shot extremely well at the line, hitting 21 of 26 for 81 percent.
Avery led Concordia with 18 points on 8-18 shooting (2-6 threes). Joining Avery in double-figure scoring were Gordon with 15, Hineman with 14 and Floyd with 10. The Cougars hit 29 of their 55 shots for 53 percent but were just 5-15 from three-point land. Concordia went to the free throw line just 14 times, making nine for 64 percent.
The Cougar men (4-11, 4-5 NAC) will host Marian University on Saturday afternoon following the women's game which begins at 2:00.
