Jan. 10, 2015 - It isn't often that a basketball team shoots over 60 percent from the field and yet sees most of a 23-point lead gradually slip away. That was the case for the Concordia University Chicago men this afternoon as they held off a late-charging Edgewood College team by a final score of 88-85 at Geiseman Gymnasium.
The Cougars shot 57 percent from the field in the first half compared to the Eagles' 33 percent and built a 38-28 lead. Kostas Doxakis (Thessaloniki, Greece) provided the spark for the Cougars, coming off the bench to hit six of his eight shots including both of his three-point attempts for a 14-point half. The game was tied at 18-18 when Doxakis reeled off CUC's next seven points. The offense gathered steam as Jacob Oakley (Sun Prairie, WI/H.S.) and Tino Vazquez (Chicago, IL/Proviso East) soon followed with threes. Doxakis scored the Cougars' final five points of the half, but Tal Diekvoss kept the visitors in the chase with two late threes to finish with a 13-point half and keep his team within 10 points at the break. It appeared as if the game would be over early for all intents and purposes when the Cougars scored the first 10 points of the second half. Meanwhile, the Eagles missed their first nine shots from the field, and when Kylan Anderson (Chicago, IL/home schooled) drove inside for a layup at the 15:11 mark, the Cougars had their largest lead of the game at 52-29. Edgewood found its spark in guard Adam Freitag who connected on a trio of three-pointers within a two-minute span. The Eagles also got a three from Dylan Heemstra, but the Cougars continued to score with some inside buckets from Vazquez and DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita). With 10 minutes to play, the Cougars still had what seemed to be a relatively safe lead at 17 points (66-49). Concordia-Chicago's lead bounced back to 20 as Doxakis hit a jumper and added a free throw off a technical foul. But the Eagles gathered themselves and hit the Cougars for a 15-0 run. Emilio Lopez and Trevon Ampe each contributed six points to the run, and it was Ampe's layup at the 5:15 mark that brought the visitors to within 69-64.
The Cougars continued to execute and score down the stretch. The team was good on its final nine free throws, six coming from Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian). But the Eagles heated up again from behind the arc as Joe Klocek, Lopez and Diekvoss all connected. The game came down to the final seconds as two free throws by Lopez made the score 88-85 with 18 seconds left. Edgewood then got the ball back on a controversial travelling call with plenty of time to set up a game-tying shot. However, the Cougars' tight defense forced Diekvoss into a long three from up top. His shot came up short, and the ball bounded away as time expired.
Concordia-Chicago shot 19-28 from the field in the second half and 12-14 from the charity stripe compared to Edgewood's 18-37 (7-21 threes) from the field and 14-18 at the line. The Eagles finished with a slim 32-30 edge on the glass and committed 11 turnovers to the Cougars' 12.
Doxakis led five CUC players in double-figure scoring with 19 points. Anderson, Blackwell and Walmer all scored 14 points while Vazquez added 12. Guards Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) and Walmer ran the offense effectively with six and five assists respectively. Edgewood (7-8, 5-4 NACC) placed six players in double figures, led by Diekvoss with 16. Lopez and Klocek scored 13 each, followed by Dylan Rusch and Freitag with 11 each and Ampe with 10.
The Cougars (4-9, 2-8 NACC) will host local rival Dominican University on Tuesday night at 7:00.
