Jan. 25, 2012 - With the excitement of this weekend's Concordia Invitational Tournament looming large, the Concordia Cougar men's team still had an important piece of business to tend to tonight. They traveled down Division Street to take on their River Forest rivals, Dominican University. The game proved to be a rollercoaster ride with both teams going on extended scoring runs, but the Cougars had the final run over the last eight minutes to come away with a 65-53 win and improve their Northern Athletics Conference record to 6-5 (6-11 overall).
The Cougars got off to their fastest start of the year. Issa Avery (Evanston, IL/St. Benedict) sank the team's first shot, a three from the left side of the key. Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) followed with three straight field goals, the third coming on a steal underneath the Stars' basket. The Cougars led 9-0 with just two minutes gone.
Concordia's lead stretched to 13-0 over the next few minutes before a three by Matt Kuzniar put Dominican on the board at the 13:51 mark. That touched off a run of 13 straight points by the Stars, capped by Darius Nelson's three at the 11:46 mark that tied the game.
Gordon's short jumper restored the lead to Concordia. A Marlin Vilius (Eustis, FL/H.S.) steal then turned into a layup by Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead). Taylor Rawlings (Rochester Hills, MI/Stoney Creek) followed with a short jumper off an inbounds play to cap a 6-0 run and restore the lead to the visitors. The Stars scored to stop the run briefly, but Rawlings came back to convert a three-point play and put the advantage at 22-15.
Dominican stormed back again, sparked by some strong inside play from Brandon Barkley. Later, Kyle Sherwin hit two free throws to give the Stars their first lead of the night at 23-22.
Al Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower) erased the hosts' lead quickly with a three from the left wing. Hineman and Avery hit baskets around a fastbreak score by Dominican. The Cougars maintained their advantage over the final minutes and went into the half leading 31-27.
The Cougars' shooting fell off from a torrid start as they managed just 13 of 33 for 39 percent. Concordia shot just two of 15 from three-point range and 3-4 from the line. However, Gordon was 4-6 from the field to lead the Cougars with 10 points. Avery added nine points on 4-8 from the field.
Early in the second half with Concordia's lead still at four, Khirey Floyd (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) nailed a three and Keegan Johnson (Sycamore, IL/H.S.) scored off a steal to put the lead at nine. Moments later, Avery hit a 13-footer to put the Cougars up by double digits for the first time since their huge start.
Once again, the Stars pulled themselves up off the deck and got back into the game as the Cougars began to get into foul trouble. Dominican hit seven free throws in a 15-4 run with Kyle Sherwin's free throw tying the game 49-49 with 8:25 remaining.
Floyd answered again with a three from the left side. Moments later, he missed a three but made a hustling play by stealing the ball back and feeding Avery for a layup and a 54-50 lead. Avery followed with a three from the top of the key to extend the lead to seven.
Kevin Tiongson's three made it a four-point game at the two-minute mark, but the Cougars' free throw shooting took over down the stretch. Gordon, Johnson and Hineman all converted at the line to put the lead back into double digits, and Avery's layup added the finishing touches to the closing 16-4 run and the Cougars' 12-point win.
Avery scored a game-high 20 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Gordon shot 5-7 from the field and 4-5 from the line to finish with 14 points, and Hineman chipped in with 13. Concordia shot 25-60 (42 percent) overall, 5-23 (22 percent) from downtown and 10-14 (71 percent) from the line.
Nelson and Barkley each scored 13 points to lead Dominican (3-15, 1-9 NAC). The Stars shot 17-54 (32 percent) from the field. They were also 5-23 from three-point range and hit 14 of their 19 free throws for 74 percent.
Concordia will now get ready to play Concordia University Wisconsin in a (non-conference) CIT first-round matchup on Friday night at 8:15 p.m. All the pairings for the weekend and other tournament information can be found at www.cucougars.com/cit.
