Eagles' Threes Sink Cougars
Dec. 5, 2013 - Hot on the heels of an impressive 24-point win on Tuesday night, the Concordia Cougars looked to score a second straight victory as they returned to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play this evening. However, the Cougars could not contain the torrid three-point shooting of the host Benedictine University Eagles as they fell in a deep first-half hole and eventually lost by a final score of 87-64.
The Cougars continued their uptempo brand of ball from two nights ago for the first few minutes. Nat Pearson (Palatine, IL/H.S.) hit the net on his first three shots, and Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) drained CUC's first three of the game. However, the Eagles were good on eight of their first ten shots. Michael Wolff connected on three of his four shots from outside the arc, and Benedictine grabbed a 20-13 lead after seven minutes of play.
As the half wore on, the Eagles remained hot from three-point land but also controlled the boards when their shots were not falling. Tim McGinty joined Wolff in doing of the damage from outside, and the duo hit a combined 5-8 from the outside. Meanwhile, Tim Reamer scored 10 points on 5-7 shooting, many of which came on putbacks. The Cougars' shooting fell off as they finished the half 10-27, and they found themselves trailing 51-30 at halftime.
The second half began with the Cougars attacking the Eagles' interior and making a run. Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) scored twice inside, and Pearson converted a three-point play. Moments later, Marcus Elston (Chicago, IL/Benito Juarez) finished up a fast break, and the Cougars had the deficit down to a more manageable 14 points at 57-43.
Following a timeout, the Cougars took one more point off the lead, but the Eagles came back minutes later with a 7-0 run. John Dodson scored on a layup and then fed Kane Steger underneath for another close-in score. A three by Wolff capped the run, and the hosts had their lead back up to 20 points. The Cougars would be unable to get closer than 18 for the remainder of the contest.
Pearson led the Cougars with 16 points on 6-11 from the field, 4-5 from the stripe and seven rebounds. Walmer chipped in with 12 points and Elston with 11. The Cougars finished with 46 percent shooting on 23 of 50 (3-11 on threes) and 15-29 on free throws.
Benedictine (2-5, 1-2 NACC) was led by McGinty's 21 points on 8-11 shooting (2-4 threes) and 3-5 from the line. Wolff scored 16 points, mainly on the strength of 4-9 from outside, and Reamer added 15 points (7-12 FG, 1-4 FT). The Eagles pulled down 45 rebounds to the Cougars' 28, led by Wolff's 10 and McGinty's eight.
Concordia-Chicago (2-4, 0-3 NACC) returns home to host the Eagles of Edgewood College on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
