Nov. 18, 2014 - Tonight's men's basketball game heralded the start of a four-game homestand for Concordia University Chicago. Coming off an opening road win three nights ago at Knox College, the Cougars had high hopes of making it two in a row, but those hopes were dashed by Maranatha Baptist University. The Sabercats executed well down the stretch and claimed a 75-71 victory.
Concordia-Chicago's defense was on its game in the early going, holding the visitors to just 11 points over the first 10 minutes. The bench offered up some scoring contributions as Kostas Doxakis (Thessaloniki, Greece), Shalav Hogue (Arad, Israel/Tel Aviv) and Tyler Zastrow (Sheboygan, WI/Sheboygan Lutheran) all scored to give CUC its biggest lead at 20-13 at the 8:58 mark. Maranatha fought back as brothers Tanner and Brady Moses sandwiched threes around a Doxakis basket. Moments later, a Richard Carmona three knotted the score at 23-23. The game was tied in the final minute of the half before Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) hit two free throws to make the score CUC 36, MBU 34 after 20 minutes. The Cougars maintained the lead for most of the first part of the second half. However, they were unable to shake the pesky visitors, and the Sabercats reared up to take command of the game. David Wenthold did much of the damage with 17 second-half points, and his three-point play at the 11:32 mark gave MBU a 51-50 lead.
The two teams exchanged the lead over the next several minutes, but the key sequence came with 2:26 remaining. Trailing 63-59, Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) scored to make it a two-point game. However, a technical foul on the Cougars sent MBU's Brady Moses to the foul line. Moses hit both throws to push the lead back to four. Maranatha maintained possession, and Wenthold drained another three to give the visitors their biggest lead to that point at seven. The Sabercats then hit their free throws in the final minutes to keep the Cougars at bay despite Zastrow's three from halfcourt at the buzzer. Wenthold led all scorers with 24 points including 4-8 from three-point range and 8-9 at the free throw line. Brett Cashner added 16 points (7-10 from the field) and eight rebounds for the Sabercats (1-1). The Cougars were led by Walmer's 15 points while Kylan Anderson (Chicago, IL/home schooled) added 12 points and Stinson eight points and 11 rebounds.
The Cougars will return to action Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. when they host Roosevelt University.
