Jan. 17, 2015 -The Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team went on the road today to tangle with the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Cougars and Raiders played to just a four-point game in River Forest two weeks ago, but MSOE took control of today's game early and rolled to an 87-60 win over CUC at the Kern Center.
Concordia-Chicago attacked the basket in the early going with Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) and Kylan Anderson (Chicago, IL/home schooled) earning trip to the line and putting MSOE in quick foul trouble. The Raiders countered with three three-pointers to take a brief lead, but Anderson hit CUC's first three of the day, and Walmer followed with an off-balance jumper to put CUC in front 15-13. The game shifted dramatically at that point as the Raiders ran off the next 12 points, fueled by a pair of threes by Jeremiah Erdmann. Patrick Phillip (Kissimmee, FL/Osceola) ended the run with a layup and added a pair of free throws moments later, but the Raiders answered with more threes. Austin Stueck and Nathan Verdun connected from the outside, and MSOE would finish the half with a torrid 9-13 shooting mark from downtown to take a 54-29 lead after 20 minutes. The situation did not improve for the Cougars in the second half. Tino Vazquez (Chicago, IL/Proviso East) provided the Cougars' only three points through the six minutes of the half. MSOE had pushed their lead above 30 by that time, and much of the second half was given to both teams emptying their benches. Phillip, the 6'5" freshman center, led CUC for the second straight game with 13 points on 4-7 from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line while also capturing a game-high eight rebounds. Adam Giger (Kissimmee, FL/Gateway) added nine points in the second half including a pair of threes. The Cougars shot 35 percent for the game on 19-54 (6-22 threes) while hitting 16 of 23 free throws. MSOE (9-7, 6-5 NACC) was led by reigning conference Player of the Year Stueck with 21 points. The home team shot 49 percent on 30-61 from the field (11-21 threes for 52 percent) and 16-19 from the line.
The Cougars (5-11, 3-10 NACC) will host two games next week, beginning with Rockford University on Wednesday night.
