Dec. 5, 2015 - The Concordia-Chicago Cougars have been a team that has lit up the scoreboard through its first two games on the road. They would continue the torrid shooting once again this afternoon in an 89-77 win over the visiting Edgewood College Eagles. The Cougars' first win of the year would come behind Kylan Anderson's (Chicago, IL/home schooled) 32 points and  also provide new head coach Randy Rogers with his first win in his first game back at Geiseman Gymnasium.

The game opened up in a tough way for the Cougars. The Eagles would jump out to a quick 5-0 lead before the Cougars got on the board by an Anderson layup.  Edgewood extended the lead out to eight points off a Spencer Barnes' three-pointer, but the Cougars started to claw their way back. DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) hit a jumper to cut into the lead. Kris Claybon (Chicago, IL/Michele Clark) notched back-to-back baskets for the Cougars in the paint to cut the lead down to two. The teams exchanged baskets for the next few minutes, but it would be an Anderson three that would cut the deficit to one. Mitch Pelissier (Puyallup, WA/Mount Rainier Lutheran)  gave the Cougars the lead for good with 9:23 remaining in the first half off a layup. CUC slowly began to pull away late in the first half. Baskets by Claybon, Anderson and Pelisser extended the Cougar lead, and Cameron Maxwell (Elkhart, IN/Elkhart Memorial) knocked home a three from the corner to extend the lead to double digits with 1:25 left in the half.

The two teams headed to the locker room with CUC leading 41-29. Anderson paced the Cougars with 17 points in the half on 6-12 shooting. Claybon also played a key part in the first half with 10 points and six rebounds. The Cougar defense played its best half of the young season, limiting the Eagles to 10-43 shooting in the first half.

The second half started off with Claybon extending the lead with a tough basket inside. He went on to score the first five points of the half for CUC and extend the lead out to 14. The Cougars continued to pressure the Eagles and try to build on the lead. LaRon Wade (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) hit a three from the corner to extend the lead to 19. Edgewood fought back on a 14-1 run over a 3:11 span that pulled them within five. After a Cougar timeout, the shooting for CUC ignited one more time. Anderson and Pelissier hit back-to-back threes to extend the lead back to 11 and, moments later, a Wade three would extend the Cougar lead back out to 17. Edgewood looked to formulate a comeback once more with just under eight minutes remaining. Barnes got the Eagles started with a three, and Lopez and Heemstra also played key parts with second-chance points of another 11-0 run that pulled Edgewood within 78-71 with 3:06 remaining. After a Sy Staver three got Edgewood within seven, they began to send the Cougars to the free-throw line. Concordia was up to the challenge, however. Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian and Pelissier combined to go 11-12 from the line down the stretch to preserve the Cougars first win.

Anderson finished the day with his first double-double of the year, 32 points and 10 rebounds. Claybon played his best game of the year with 15 points and seven rebounds despite being in foul trouble. Blackwell also battled extremely tough in the post all afternoon, pulling down 12 rebounds.

"We did what we needed to do to win," said Rogers. "We made big shots down the stretch, I'm very proud of how we answered both of their runs. We cleared out a lot for Kylan, and he did a good job getting to the basket. DeAires battled tough down low and plays a lot bigger than he is. Our freshmen don't look like freshman out there, hitting big shots when we need to."

The Cougars (1-2 1-1 NACC) will have a week to prepare before heading to Milwaukee next Saturday to take on Wisconsin Lutheran College. Opening tip is scheduled for 2 p.m.