Feb. 13, 2016 - The Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team welcomed Wisconsin Lutheran College to Geiseman Gymnasium this afternoon. The Cougars were looking for a sweep of the season series after winning 89-85 in Milwaukee back in December. However, the Warriors used the scoring of Chase Nowak and Collin Kennedy, as well as the rebounding of Jim Marose, to gain their revenge by a final score of 82-70.

The two teams played hard from the opening tip with the action going back and forth. Justin Saar (Tracy, CA/Merrill F. West) found the range from three-point land twice in the opening minutes, his second trey tying the game at 12-12. Later on, threes by Kyle Hoffman (Manitowoc, WI/Lincoln) and Mike Walmer (Orlando, FL/Orlando Christian) gave the Cougars brief three-point leads, but both times the Warriors would answer right back. CUC rose up again as Walmer canned five consecutive points to give the home team its biggest lead at 27-23, but WLC made the momentum-changing run of 11 unanswered points. Kennedy and Tanner Shieve contributed four points each to the run, but it was Jake Jarnigo's three that gave the Warriors the lead for good at 30-27. The Cougars eventually stopped the bleeding and climbed to within three on Rodney Castor's (Fort Myers, FL/H.S.) two free throws with 1:06 left, but those were matched by two free throws by Nowak at the other end, and the visitors took a 42-37 lead into the break.

The Warriors were 15 of 32 from the field in the half for 47 percent. The Cougars were just 39 percent at 13 of 33, but they were six of 18 from the outside. Both teams played a clean half too, as WLC committed just four turnovers and CUC six.

Wisconsin Lutheran upped the ante at the beginning of the second half as Nowak scored nine of WLC's first 11 points. Kennedy then followed with a jumper as the visitors grabbed their biggest lead of the night to that point, 55-42 at the 14:32 mark.

The Cougars battled back again, getting a three by Adam Castro (Chicago, IL/Guerin College Prep) and a three-point play by DeAires Blackwell (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) to stay within range at 57-50. However, the Warriors revved up the engines one more time as they ran off 10 straight points. The Cougars continued to fight, but the deficit was too great , and CUC would get no closer than 10 for the rest of the game.

Walmer turned in one of his top efforts of the season tonight, scoring 21 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Blackwell finished with 12 points and seven rebounds The Warriors were paced by Nowak's 22 points and Kennedy's 21. Marose's 18 rebounds (six on the offensive end) led the Warriors to a 47-34 advantage on the glass.

Concordia-Chicago will host local rival Dominican University on Wednesday night in the Cougars' final home game.