Jan. 28, 2012 - Friday night's one-point loss to Concordia Wisconsin in the first round of the 61st annual Concordia Invitational Tournament was tough enough to take. But Cougar fans had no idea that a sequel of sorts was in store for them this afternoon.
The Cougars hosted Concordia Ann Arbor in the third-place game, but there was still lots of spirit in this rematch of last year's championship game. Twice, it appeared as if the Cougars had the Cardinals beaten, but the opportunities escaped the home team as the Cardinals emerged victorious in overtime by an 80-74 score.
A brisk first half saw the Cougars shoot 50 percent from the field in taking a 40-33 halftime lead. The Cougars' bench provided strong support as Al Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower), Taylor Rawlings (Rochester Hills, MU/Stoney Creek) and Cole Reindl (Germantown, WI/H.S.) hit from behind the arc. But it was Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) and Issa Avery (Evanston, IL/St. Benedict) that led the Cougars in scoring at the half. Gordon, who rang up a 9-9 shooting half in Friday's game, was 4-6 with 11 points. Avery also shot 4-6 for nine points, and the 6'5" senior also had eight rebounds as part of his effort.
The Cougars pushed their lead into double digits with the first basket of the second half. Later, they took their biggest lead as Marlin Vilius (Eustis, FL/H.S.) lobbed the ball toward the basket. Avery finished off with a thunderous dunk, bringing the loudest roar of the day from the Cougar faithful as the score went to 52-39.
Ann Arbor's Josh Fugate quickly answered Avery's slam with a three-pointer, and that sparked the visitors to a 14-1 run. John Schaeffer hit a key three, and Andrew Patrick's jumper in the lane tied the game 53-53 with nine minutes to go.
The Cardinals took the lead down the stretch, but Kahlfeldt's putback of a missed free throw put the Cougars back in the lead at 69-68 with 56 seconds left. Ann Arbor regained the lead with a bit of luck. Rocko Holmes' shot under the basket was rejected by Avery, but the ball wound up in the hands of Aaron Olsen on the other side of the basket. Olsen laid the ball in with six seconds left to give the visitors a one-point lead.
Avery took the inbounds, accelerated down the court and, as the buzzer was going off, the officials whistled a foul against CUAA's Jeremy Simmons. Avery hit the first free throw, but his second was just off to the right as the two teams prepared for overtime.
The overtime was all Ann Arbor. Two free throws by Patrick gave them the lead, and a steal and layup by John Schaeffer made it a four-point game. The Cougars tied the game on baskets by Avery and Gordon, but Olsen struck again as his layup at the 1:17 mark gave the Cardinals the lead. A jumper and two free throws by Holmes closed out the scoring in an excruciating Cougars' loss.
Gordon shot 11-16 from the field as part of a 26-point performance, and he was named to the All-Tournament team for his efforts. Avery shot 8-13 en route to an 18-point game, and he pulled down a team-leading 10 rebounds.
Concordia-Chicago (6-13, 6-5 NAC) returns to Northern Athletics Conference play Tuesday night when they play at Benedictine University. The Cougars will go for the season sweep against the Eagles.
