Jan. 14, 2017 – Just two weeks after the Cougars hosted the Raiders from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, today was the day of the rematch at the Kern Center in Milwaukee. The Cougars recovered from a rough first half and gave the Raiders all they could handle in the second half, but MSOE held off a spirited effort and held on for a 72-66 victory.

The Cougars came out hot as Sheldon Moore and Jarek Hotwagner canned threes for a fast 6-0 lead. However, the Raiders charged back as a three-point play by Tegan Miles and a long-distance three by Matthew Kirmse tied the game at 10-10.

Mitch Pelissier's basket at the 12:25 mark gave CUC a 14-13 lead, but the Cougars went cold from the field at that point. MSOE took full advantage over the next 5 ½ minutes, going on a 17-2 run that was fueled by threes from Kirmse, Collin Seubert and Jason Palesse.

Facing its biggest deficit at 16 points (35-19), the Cougars were able to cut into the home team's lead over the final minutes of the half. Israel Dosie and Kyle Hoffman scored inside, and Moore hit his second and third three-pointers of the half to make the halftime score MSOE 39, CUC 29.

Neither team fared well in shooting from the field; the Cougars were just 11-33 (.333) and the Raiders were 10-28 (.357). However, MSOE shot 15-19 from the free-throw line while CUC was just 3-5. The home team also had a 26-18 edge on the boards, led by Miles' six.

The Raiders scored the first bucket of the second half but were unable to run away after that. Moore notched his new career-high of 12 points with his fourth three of the day. Louis Fernando followed with a basket, and a three-point play on the fast break suddenly had the Cougars within four points at 41-37.

Seubert's three boosted the lead back up to seven, but the Cougars kept chipping away. Pelissier had a run of five straight points, and Mike Walmer connected twice from downtown. Finally, Pelissier nailed a three from just to the right of the key, and CUC had pulled even with MSOE at 55-55 at the 6:55 mark.

The game was also tied at 57-57 when the Raiders ran off six straight points inside to take the lead permanently. Dosie's two free throws with 90 seconds left gave CUC a chance, making it a three-point game, but MSOE made its free throws at the end to keep the visitors at bay.

Pelissier and Walmer had big second halves, Pelissier scoring 13 of his team-leading 17 points while Walmer hit a trio of threes for nine of his 13 points. However, the Raiders used a balanced scoring attack led by Seubert's 14 and also maintained a sizeable advantage on the boards, 46-35.

The Cougars (3-11, 2-9 NACC) will return home to face Rockford University on Tuesday night at 7:00.