Jan. 9, 2013 - Most of the time, the "Battle of River Forest" has produced tense and exciting battles between the Concordia Cougars and the Dominican Stars. This evening, however, the Stars took advantage of a short-handed Cougar team and ran away to an 83-49 victory at the Igini Sports Forum.

The Cougars fell behind 7-0 before two baskets by Taylor Rawlings (Rochester Hills, MI/Stoney Creek) started the offense. David Baez (Chicago, IL/George Washington) hit Concordia's first three of the night, but Dominican attacked the Cougars' interior and got a couple of layups to take a 16-7 lead after seven minutes of play.

Trailing 21-11, Concordia received a lift off the bench by Tyler Oden (Chicago, IL/Marist) and Aurtiro Houston (Chicago, IL/Crane). Oden hit a pair of free throws after challenging the Stars' 6'7" Josh Ward in the lane. Houston followed with a baseline jumper and two free throws. Spenser Demith (Champaign, IL/Central), making his season debut, hit a fadeaway from the right baseline, and the Cougars had the Stars' lead down to four points at 23-19.

Concordia's bid to cut further into the lead was stalled by two turnovers. Dominican converted the miscues into a pair of baskets and added two free throws by Taylor DeRoo with 2.7 seconds left. DeRoo then intercepted a long inbounds pass and banked in a 60-footer at the buzzer to close out a 9-0 run and give the Stars a 32-19 lead at the half.

The Cougars came out for the second half looking to recapture some momentum. They scored on their first three possessions, but the Stars were able to match that. Dominican sustained their fast start as they went on to shoot a sizzling 22-32 (.692) over the final 20 minutes and put the game out of reach.

Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) shot 7-9 from the field and led the Cougars with 16 points. Houston added a season-high nine points. For Dominican, DeRoo led all scorers with 18 points, followed by Logan Harris and Ryan Risley with 17 points each. Harris also added a game-high 12 rebounds.

Concordia (1-12, 1-5 NAC) will host Lakeland College Saturday afternoon at Geiseman Gymnasium.