Jan. 21, 2017 - One of the high points of the Concordia-Chicago men's basketball season to date is an 81-70 win over Lakeland University back on Dec. 20 in Plymouth, WI. The win was the Cougars' first in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play, and the Cougars welcomed the Muskies to Geiseman Gymnasium this afternoon for the rematch. Unfortunately for the home team and its fans, CUC's quest for the season sweep got off to a bad start and never improved significantly as the Muskies rolled to a 91-65 win.

Lakeland shot the three ball effectively today, and Brandon James and Pat McDonald hit from long range early to start the Muskies going. Israel Dosie scored twice in the early going, but Lakeland broke an 8-8 tie wirh a 9-0 run. .McDonald hit another three to give the Muskies the lead, and Eric Nygaard's three capped the outburst. The Cougars looked to claw their way back as Kyle Hoffman and Kris Claybon scored, but the Muskies took off on another 9-0 run, with McDonald's third triple of the half upping the lead to 30-12 at the 8:31 mark.

Over the final few minutes, the Cougars looked to make some inroads into the visitors' lead. But  Brandon James hit a jumper to extend the lead to 20 and then, following a CUC miss, James dribbled down the court and launched a long three. The ball swished through the net as time expired, and the Muskies took a commanding 47-24 lead at the half.

Early in the second half, the Cougars got back-to-back buckets by Jarek Hotwagner and Mike Walmer to get back to within 21. however, the Muskies had another run in them, this one at 11-2. The run made the score LU 60, CUC 30 with 15:20 remaining and ended any distant hope the Cougars had of getting back into the contest.

Lakeland shot a blistering 60 percent (18-30) in the second half and finished with 54 percent (37-68) for the day. They were led by James who was 10-14 from the field and finished with a game-high 25 points.

Concordia-Chicago shot 40 percent for the game on 25-62 but were just 5-17 (29 percent) on threes. They were led by Dosie's career-high 17 points while Mitch Pelissier added 10 points. 

The Cougars (3-13, 2-11 NACC) will be back in action on Sunday afternoon when they make up thr game against Edgewood College that was postponed back on Dec. 17. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. at Geiseman Gymnasium.