Jan. 15, 2015 - The Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team took their two-game winning streak into Aurora University's Thornton Gymnasium this evening for a battle against the first-place Aurora Spartans. Offense ruled the evening as the Spartans established a very up-tempo pace and ran their way to a 117-78 victory.
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Three-point shooting was the name of the game early for both teams. The Cougars cashed in triples by Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) and Kylan Anderson (Chicago, IL/home schooled) while the Spartans countered with a pair of threes from Brandon Smith. However, as the half progressed, the home team gained an edge with their offensive rebounding. Led by the work of Kalmon Stokes and Sean Gant, the Spartans scored 13 second-chance points and began to open up the lead. Patrick Phillip (Kissimmee, FL/Osceola) provided some offensive punch for CUC with 11 points (4-6 from the field), but Aurora's offense stayed consistent in shooting 15-21 from inside the arc and 7-18 from outside to take a 62-39 lead at the half. Tino Vazquez (Chicago, IL/Proviso East) began the second half with a three from the left wing, and Anderson heated up shortly afterwards with seven straight points. However, Aurora continued its breakneck pace and scored on several fastbreak opportunities. The Spartans extended their lead out to 30 points midway through the half and as high as 41 in the final minute before the final 39-point margin. Phillip finished with a career-high 18 points in 27 minutes of play. Anderson totaled 12 points, and Adam Giger (Kissimmee, FL/Gateway) scored all nine of his points in the second half. Aurora (12-4, 10-2 NACC) was led by Stokes with 22 points and Hall with 20. The Spartans shot 57 percent for the game and 36 percent (11-31) from three-point range.
Auroa also held a 51-32 margin on the boards.
Concordia-Chicago (5-10, 3-9 NACC) will travel to Wisconsin on Saturday to take on the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Cougars will look to avenge a four-point loss to the Raiders from Jan. 3.
