Jan. 26, 2016 - A busy week of basketball at Geiseman Gymnasium got underway this evening as the Concordia-Chicago Cougars hosted the Aurora Spartans in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play. Both teams were ready for an up-tempo contest, but it was the shooting - particularly the long-range shooting - that was the deciding factor as Aurora topped CUC by a final score of 100-82.

The Spartans led 4-2 when they hit their first two threes of the game. Mitch Pelissier (Puyallup, WA/Mount Rainier Lutheran) and DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) each scored twice inside to keep the Cougars in it in the early going. However, Aurora continued to heat up as the half progressed. By the time that Chris Fritsch drilled the visitors' sixth triple of the half at the 8:19 mark, the Spartans pumped their lead up to 26-10.

Trailing as much as 18, the Cougars looked to make a late push as Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) cashed in on two free throws resulting from a Spartans' technical foul. Moments later, Pelissier connected on CUC's first three as the home team pulled within 38-25. However, Aurora scored the next nine points, all on threes, before Walmer scored the final two points to make the halftime score Aurora 47, CUC 27. The shooting stats told the story as the Spartans shot 9-20 from outside, 19-42 overall while the Cougars were just 1-16 from outside, 12-43 overall.

To their credit, the Cougars came out in the second half and continued to play with great determination. Trailing by 21 early, a Pelissier three and consecutive threes by Walmer pulled the Cougars within 13. However, Aurora had the answer with a 12-2 run which included threes by Nick Kladis and Jeremy LaGrone. Concordia-Chicago made one more run as a three by LaRon Wade (Chicago, IL/Farragut Academy) and baskets by Walmer and Pelissier pulled the Cougars within 78-66 with seven minutes remaining. Once again, however, the Spartans were able to answer the challenge as they hit their free throws down the stretch to close out the victory.

The Cougars improved from long range in the second half, hitting on 6-15, but the Spartans shot 7-14 to finish the game with a blistering 16-34 for 47 percent. Rebounds were even at 49 each, and the Spartans had three more turnovers, 17-14.

Pelissier topped CUC's scoring list with 21 points, followed by Walmer with 20. Blackwell scored 14 and pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds while Wade made it four Cougars in double figures with 12 points.

Fritsch led the Spartans (15-3, 11-2 NACC) with 20 points, doing most of his damage iniside with 8-9 shooting (two threes). Kalmon Stokes scored 19 points while Tyler Hall added 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Concordia-Chicago (4-13, 4-10 NACC) will host Concordia Wisconsin on Friday night at 8:15 p.m. in a first-round game for the 65th annual Concordia Invitational Tournament.