Jan. 30, 2015 - Buoyed by a big conference win over Benedictine University three nights ago, the Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team looked to carry their momentum into the opening round of the 64th annual Concordia Invitational Tournament this evening in Ann Arbor, MI. The Cougars and Concordia University Nebraska engaged in a battle of scoring runs throughout the entire 40 minutes but, in the end, the Bulldogs had enough to hold off the Cougars by a final score of 84-73.

The game see-sawed from the early minutes before a rare four-point play by Kylan Anderson (Chicago, IL/home schooled) gave CUC an 8-5 lead. The Cougars led 10-7 when the Bulldogs produced the game's first significant run of 10 consecutive points to take a seven-point lead. The run came on the strength of threes by Eli Ziegler and Reilly Carew.

Concordia-Chicago fell behind by as much as 12 points before the long ball brought the Cougars back into the chase. Adam Giger (Kissimmee, FL/Gateway) and Jacob Oakley (Sun Prairie, WI/H.S.) hit from the left side on consecutive trips down the floor. Moments later, Oakley brought back memories of last year's CIT game against Concordia Ann Arbor (four threes in the final few minutes) when he connected again from the wing. Kostas Doxakis (Thessaloniki, Greece) added to the barrage with yet another trey, and the Cougars were within 32-28. The game remained close over the final minutes of the half, but CUNE's Rudy Knight made a corner three in the last minute to give his team a six-point halftime lead at 45-39.

The early minutes of the second half went to the Nebraskans as they scored the first five points. Brandon Stinson (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) broke the ice for the Cougars with a short jumper, but the Bulldogs responded with the next six points for an 11-2 run and a 56-41 advantage.

While the Cougars faced an uphill climb from that point on, they would not go down without a fight. Spurred by an Anderson three from the corner that came off a behind-the-back pass from Stinson, CUC would whittle the deficit down to the 8-10 point range. 

Trailing by nine at the 3:36 mark, the Cougars made one more push. Giger hit his second three of the game. Then, following a turnover, Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) drove inside to score and put CUC within four points. The intensity grew as the Bulldogs missed two free throws and the Cougars grabbed the rebound. However, the Cougars would miss from close range, and the Bulldogs raced the other way to convert a three-point play by Chandler Folkerts (20 points). Joel Haywood then scored the next four points as CUNE claimed an 11-point lead with 1:32 left. The Cougars got within six with 39 ticks left, but the Bulldogs closed out the game by making five of their final six free throws.

The Cougars shot 24 of 68 for the game, 9-25 from three-point range and 16-21 from the line, although the final stat was tempered by CUC missing three of four free throws in a late-game stretch. The Bulldogs shot just under 50 percent at 28-57, 8-23 from long range and 20-34 at the line. But perhaps the key stat of the game came underneath as CUNE captured 40 rebounds to CUC's 27. The tandem of the 6'7" Robby Thomas (11 rebounds) and the 6'8" Folkerts (nine) were too much for the Cougars to overcome.

"We knew going in that they had tremendous size," said CUC head coach Tyler Jones. "I thought that we could disrupt them some if our guards could pressure them, and I think that Kylan and Kostas did that to a point; Nebraska did miss some inside shots. But there were moments in the game, especially late, where we had to make some plays and couldn't get what we needed."

Anderson led the Cougars with 22 points on 8-16 shooting, including 4-6 from three-point range. Doxakis added 16 points on 5-12 shooting (one three) and 5-6 from the line. DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) played a strong defensive game with seven rebounds and four steals.

Concordia-Chicago (6-14) will face Concordia Wisconsin for the third time in January as the two conference rivals will place in the consolation game. Host Ann Arbor defeated CUW in the other first-round men's game by a final score of 56-48.