Dec. 18, 2014 - The Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team went on the road tonight to try and slow down a hot Lakeland College team. The Cougars had lost the first meeting to the Muskies back on Nov. 29 but came back with a solid effort this evening. Unfortunately, it was still not enough as the Muskies used a big second half from Derick Denny to prevail over the Cougars by a 93-85 final score.
Three-point shots dominated the early going as Lakeland's Joey Burris hit two for a 6-0 lead before CUC's Adam Giger (Kissimmee, FL/Gateway) broke the ice with one from the top of the key. The two teams played fast and physical over the first several minutes, and Tino Vazquez (Chicago, IL/Proviso East) pulled CUC back from the early deficit as his three-point play knotted the game at 9-9. The Cougars went back inside on their next possession and took their first lead at 11-10 as DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) was fouled and hit a pair of free throws. The teams jockeyed back and forth for a while, CUC continuing with a good blend of inside and outside on offense. Giger hit a couple more threes, and Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) and Kylan Anderson (Chicago, IL/home schooled) slicing inside for layups. The Cougars led 29-28 after Anderson's score with 5:48 left before halftime. Lakeland turned up its defensive intensity in the final minutes as they forced a half-dozen turnovers. Kurt Jansen hit a pair of threes and scored eight points in a closing 17-5 run as the Muskies suddenly had an 11-point lead to take into the break.
Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) started the Cougars' offense in the second half with a pair of threes. That opened up some space inside as CUC looked back underneath. Anderson, Vazquez and Patrick Phillip (Kissimmee, FL/Osceola) all scored in close, and when Stinson scored on a putback at the 14:30 mark, CUC was within two points at 56-54. The Cougars continued to battle but were never able to get over the hump. That was because Denny came up with clutch threes on four different occasions when the Muskies' lead was five points or less. His final three came with four minutes remaining to put the hosts up by eight, and the Cougars got no closer than five points with 30 seconds left. Denny scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half including five of his six threes.
Besides Denny, Lakeland (9-1, 6-1 NACC) got 22 points from Joey Burris. The Muskies shot an even 50 percent from the field on 30-60 and hit on 22 of 32 free throws.
Concordia-Chicago (2-6, 0-5 NACC) was led by Vazquez with 17 points. Stinson came close to a triple-double with 15 points, a game-high 13 rebounds and eight assists. Also in double figures for CUC were Phillip with 12 (5-5 from the field), Anderson with 10 and Giger with 10. The Cougars shot 51 percent from the field on 35-69 but just 53 percent from the free throw line on 10-19.
The Cougars will return home to take on Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
