Jan. 13, 2015 - The Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team won its second straight game and third out of its last four with a 73-63 victory over Division Street rival Dominican University this evening at CUC's Greiseman Gymnasium.
Prospects for a CUC victory did not look good in the early part of the game. The Cougars missed seven of their first nine shots and committed three turnovers in the first seven minutes. Meanwhile, the Stars' tandem of guard Josh Mayberry and forwatd Tim Robertson combined to score 18 of DU's first 23 points. Robertson's jumper at the 11:20 mark gave Dominican its largest lead of the night at 23-9.
Concordia-Chicago head coach Tyler Jones went to his bench to try and reverse the momentum. and he got what he desired. Patrick Phillip (Kissimmee, FL/Osceola) provided the scoring punch as he powered inside for four baskets. Kostas Doxakis (Thessaloniki, Greece) added a bucket, and Kyle Hoffman (Manitowoc, WI/Lincoln) and Charles Ruffing (DePere, WI/Chilton) provided some steady floor play. The result of all of this saw the Cougars knock the Stars' lead down to five points (26-21) on Phillip's fourth basket of the half. "I was happy with the resolve we showed after a slow start," said Jones. "I thought that the spark that our second unit showed was huge. Then, when our starters returned, they picked up on the energy that group had given us and were able to carry that over to put us into the lead."
The Cougars continued to cut into the lead as Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park,. IL/East Leyden), Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) and Tino Vazquez (Chicago, IL/Proviso East) all attacked the basket and earned trips to the free throw line. From there, the Cougars continued the prowess they had exhibited in Saturday's win against Edgewood as the team hit on 11 of 12 first half tosses. The strong inside play continued as a putback by DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) gave CUC its first lead at 33-32. Dominican regained the lead briefly, but Blackwell's three-point play put CUC in front for good, 38-35 with 1:45 remaining in the half. Two free throws by Vazquez and a jumper by Kylan Anderson (Chicago, IL/home schooled) let the Cougars take a 42-37 lead into the halftime break. A 12-0 run early in the second half enabled Concordia-Chicago to establish full control. Anderson accounted for 10 of the points with a pair of threes and two fastbreak scores, one of them on a breakaway slam. The Stars would come as close as eight points on a few late occasions, but the Cougars got a couple of scores from Walmer and one from Vazquez in closing out the win.
Anderson led the Cougars (5-9, 3-8 NACC) with 19 points on 8-17 shooting including 3-7 on threes. Vazquez, Walmer and Phillip all scored 10 points with Phillip also capturing seven rebounds. Blackwell played a strong inside game with nine points and a team-leading 10 rebounds, and Stinson added eight points and seven assists.
Dominican (1-14, 1-10 NACC) was led by Robertson with game-high marks of 31 points (14-26 shooting) and 11 rebounds. Mayberry added 12 points, and Anoribe Nwannewuihe recorded 11 points and seven rebounds.
