Feb. 8, 2014 - A classic tale of two halves unfolded in the Concordia-Chicago men's game this afternoon against Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee. The host Warriors had their way in the first half, building a 23-point lead after 20 minutes. The Cougars stormed back into the game by way of a tenacious press, trimming the deficit down to five before the Warriors finally prevailed by a score of 91-80.
The two teams opened the scoring with threes before the Warriors built an early lead on the strength of their interior play. Jim Marose hit a short jumper and Brett Lubbe scored twice underneath the basket, his second layup giving WLC a 15-10 lead.
Marcus Elston (Chicago, IL/Benito Juarez) countered with a pair of free throws, and Kostas Doxakis (Thessaloniki, Greece) hit a jumper at the 12:32 mark to make the score 15-14. However, that was to be CUC's final score for the next seven minutes as the home team went off on a huge run. Nate Siemers hit a layup to bump the lead back up to three. But it was Taylor Chladek that ignited the Warriors' run with back-to-back threes from the identical spot in the left corner. Chladek's strikes made the score 23-14, and the hosts turned up the heat with 10 more points before Nat Pearson (Palatine, IL/H.S.) ended the Cougars' draught with a 12-foot jumper. However, Wisconsin Lutheran outscored Concordia 12-6 down the stretch to leave the floor at halftime with a 45-22 lead. The stat sheet told the tale of the half with WLC making 16 of 26 shots from the field (12 of 16 inside the arc) and CUC hitting on just none of 27 shots. The home team also controlled the boards, pulling down 19 to the Cougars' nine.
The Cougars came out for the second half and turned up the pressure on the Warriors. A 10-4 run to start the half began to turn the momentum in the visitors' favor. Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) scored twice and also picked up a key offensive rebound as he fed Jacob Oakley (Sun Prairie, WI/H.S.) for a layup.
A full court press began to force some turnovers, and the maroon and gold kept coming. Elston converted a couple of three-point plays and also scored on a putback. Shalav Hogue (Arad, Israel/Tel Aviv) hit a big three as part of his career-high nine-point effort to continue the rally. When Oakley followed that with a three at the 7:28 mark, the Cougars had trimmed the deficit into single digits at 67-59.
Wisconsin Lutheran recovered momentarily to go back up by 12, but CUC was not deterred. A layup by Hogue and two free throws by Stinson narrowed the gap. Oakley then knocked down another three, and the WLC lead was a slim five points at 76-71.
Unfortunately, the Cougars would get no closer. Kyle Stelse hit a clutch jumper, and Siemers closed out a team-leading 16-point performance with six points in the final 1:40.
Elston topped the Cougars 20 points (6-13 FG, 8-12 FT) and seven rebounds. Oakley hit five three-pointers as part of his 19-point total, and Stinson finished with 17 points, six rebounds and five steals. Pearson made it four Cougars to finish in double figures as he tossed in 10 points.
The Warriors shot 30-50 from the field and 26-32 from the line. They placed six players in double figures led by Siemers' 16 and Jake Jarnigo's 15.
Concordia-Chicago (5-16, 2-14 NACC) returns to action Tuesday night when they play at Aurora University. Â
