Feb. 11, 2014 - In their final road game of the season, the Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team ran into the proverbial buzzsaw. The Aurora University Spartans put the pressure on the Cougars from the start with some torrid outside shooting and also controlled much of the inside play, all of which led to a 105-76 victory at AU's Thornton Gymnasium.
The Spartans made themselves at home early in the game with some solid three-point shooting. In particular, Brandon Smith heated up quickly, scoring 10 of Aurora's first 15 points including two rainbows. The hosts remained hot from outside as they hit six of their first nine from behind the arc, jumping out to a 28-9 lead midway through the half.
With the Cougars' forwards in foul trouble, the Spartans also enjoyed an advantage in the lane and picked up 12 second-chance points. Late in the half, Kostas Doxakis (Thessaloniki, Greece) came off the bench and gave a lift to CUC's offense with 10 points including a pair of threes, but the Cougars found themselves staring up at a 57-28 deficit at the end of 20 minutes. Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again after a big second-half rally on Saturday, the Cougars came out and put the fullcourt press on the Spartans. While CUC did force a handful of turnovers off the press, they were unable to slow Aurora significantly so as to unleash a big run of points and make deep inroads into the deficit.
Marcus Elston (Chicago, IL/Benito Juarez) and Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) scored 12 and 11 points respectively in the second half, and the pair tied for CUC high-point honors with 17 each. Elston pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds while Stinson finished with eight rebounds and eight assists. Smith's 25 points led the Spartans (15-8, 12-6 NACC) who finished 12-30 from the outside and held a 56-44 edge on the glass. Kyle Pilmer added 13 points and nine rebounds.
Concordia-Chicago (5-17, 2-15 NACC) will host MArian University on Saturday at 2 p.m. It will be Senior Day for the Cougars as they honor Elston and Nat Pearson (Palatine, IL/H.S.) between games of the doubleheader.
