Feb. 14, 2012 - The Concordia Cougars and Rockford Regents met this evening at Rockford's Seaver Gymnasium with much at stake. The two teams entered play tied with Benedictine University for first place in the Northern Athletics Conference South Division. Rockford had won the first meeting at Geiseman Gymnasium by one point, but tonight's game was completely different including the outcome. Concordia dominated play in the first half and then withstood a furious Rockford rally in the second half to win 71-59.

In addition to beating Rockford, the Cougars needed Aurora University to beat Benedictine tonight to claim first place solely for themselves. However, Benedictine won 65-64 on a putback at the buzzer. The Cougars and Eagles will go down in the books as co-champions in the South Division, but Benedictine will play for one of the top two seeds in next week's NAC tournament by virtue of the tiebreaker rules. Concordia will play at Edgewood College this Saturday at 4:15 in a battle of the three and four seeds. The Cougars are already set for the NAC tournament as the four seed and will play fifth-seeded Lakeland College next Tuesday, Feb. 21 at Geiseman Gymnasium.

The Cougars had no knowledge of the progress between Aurora and Benedictine, instead focusing on what they needed to achieve. The intensity of that focus showed from the opening tip. The Cougars jumped out to an 8-2 lead as Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) and Charles Gordon (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) both hit their first two shots. Rockford came back with their first three-pointer of the night, but Issa Avery (Evanston, IL/St. Benedict) answered that with his own from downtown. Avery would score 16 points for the night, but the 6'5" senior was even more adept tonight with his passing. He picked up a couple of early assists, setting up his teammates for easy layups. Avery finished the half with six assists and the game with a season-high eight.

Gordon was near unstoppable in the first half. With the score 11-5, Gordon scored Concordia's next nine points and bumped the Cougars' lead up to 13 points midway through the half. Adding to Rockford's troubles, they began to pile up fouls and put the Cougars into the bonus by the nine-minute mark. Free throws by Avery and Keegan Johnson (Sycamore, IL/H.S.) soon let Concordia triple up on the hosts at 20-10.

Defensively, the Cougars pestered the Regents' three-point shooters. Regents' 6'5" center Danny Fair was the only reliable weapon for the home team as he scored 12 first-half points. Rockford picked up a few late scores, but a baseline jumper by Marlin Vilius (Eustis, FL/H.S.) stemmed the tide a bit and let Concordia finish the half with a 38-20 lead.

Rockford would not go quietly before a Senior Night crowd, and Fair sparked the comeback in the early minutes of the half. Fair scored on a variety of inside moves and scored 16 of the Regents' first 17 points over the first eight minutes. When Taylor Dixon hit a three from the right corner, the hosts were within 47-40 with the home crowd becoming louder and more excited.

Al Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower) answered with a three from the left wing to help the Cougars calm things down. Avery and Gordon answered baskets by Rockford over the next few minutes, and Kahlfeldt later hit another trey to keep the lead at 10 with time beginning to run out on Rockford.

Rockford lost Fair to his fifth foul at the 2:35 mark, the senior leaving the game with 30 points and 12 rebounds. But Paul Hall, who had been cold for much of the evening, drilled a three to give Rockford a final push. Avery then came up with perhaps the Cougars' biggest play of the night, driving the lane for a layup. Avery was fouled on the play and sank the free throw. His three-point play at the 2:00 mark restored the Cougars' lead to 10 points at 63-53. Rockford got only as close as eight points in the final minutes, but free throws closed out Concordia's tenth win of the season and tenth in conference play.

Gordon shot 10-15 from the field and led Concordia with 21 points. Avery was next with 16, and Hineman and Kahlfeldt finished with 11 each. Most impressively, the Cougars finished with 20 assists on the night to just 10 turnovers.

Concordia's game at Edgewood on Saturday will be carried via Live Stats and video. Fans are again encouraged to go to www.cucougars.com for links to the live coverage.