Box Score Jan. 3, 2015 - Coming off a heart-stopping win at Rockford University three days ago, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars welcomed the Milwaukee School of Engineering to Geiseman Gymnasium this afternoon. The two teams went hard at each other over 40 minutes but, in the end, it was MSOE's Austin Stueck, the reigning conference Player of the Year, that made the difference. Stueck scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half and made some clutch plays in the final minutes of the game to give the Raiders a 76-72 victory.
The Cougars led through most of a defensive first half. Behind the strong inside play of DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita), Concordia-Chicago grabbed an early 8-4 lead. The Raiders would come back to take a few brief leads, but the Cougars remained persistent. A three by Kyle Hoffman (Manitowoc, WI/Lincoln) let CUC regain the lead at 22-20, and Kostas Doxakis (Thessaloniki, Greece) followed with a short jumper for a four-point lead. The two teams traded baskets for the final minutes of the half with Mike Walmer's (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) layup in the final seconds giving CUC a 32-28 lead at the half. Defense and rebounding kept the Cougars in control for the half. Concordia-Chicago limited the Raiders to 11-28 shooting for the half (39 percent) and, in particular, held Stueck to 3-9 from the field. On the glass, the Cougars held a 22-17 margin led by Blackwell's five.
Concordia-Chicago held the lead for the first nine minutes of the second half, but some missed free throws prevented them from building a bigger lead. The visitors began to turn the tide at the midway point of the half, and Stueck's three-point play put MSOE in front 48-46. That ignited a 10-3 run for the Raiders that was capped off by an Alex Darville fast break bucket, and MSOE had its biggest lead to that point at 55-49.
The inside work of Connor Patterson helped MSOE hold their lead. The 6'6" forward scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, and his three-point play at the 5:45 mark put MSOE's lead at 64-57.
The Cougars rallied late and put themselves in position to steal the game. Hoffman hit a clutch three, and a goaltending call on Kylan Anderson's (Chicago, IL/home schooled) layup tied the game at 68-68. The teams traded scores over the next few minutes with Brandon Stinson's (Schiller Park, IL/East Leyden) jumper in the lane creating the final tie at 72-72 with 1:27 remaining. With the game in the balance, the Raiders looked to Stueck, and he delivered. Driving to the basket, Stueck was fouled and hit two free throws for the lead with 52 seconds left. Then, with the Cougars in possession in the final seconds with a chance to tie or win, Stueck stole the ball and raced downcourt, stopped only by an intentional foul. He hit the insurance free throws, and the Raiders were then able to run out the final few seconds.
Stueck finished with 30 points on 9-19 shooting from the field (1-4 threes) and 11-13 on free throws while also pulling down eight rebounds. Patterson finished with 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as MSOE (6-6, 3-4 NACC) finished with a slim 37-35 edge on the boards.
Anderson led CUC with 16 points on 5-12 shooting (1-4 threes) and 5-5 from the line. Walmer and Doxakis each scored 13 with Doxakis hitting six of nine from the field. Blackwell finished with nine points and led CUC with 10 rebounds.
Concordia-Chicago (3-8, 1-7 NACC) will look to start a new winning streak on Wednesday night when they play at Concordia University Wisconsin.
