Jan. 25, 2017 - Coming off an impressive win this past Sunday versus Edgewood College, the Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team looked for a two-game winning streak as they traveled to Aurora University this evening..The Cougars hoped for revenge against the Spartans as, last time out, the Spartans pulled away late to come away with the victory. Unfortunately, tonight's game followed much the same pattern as CUC hung close but fell in the end to Aurora by a final score of 114-95.
The Cougars got off to a hot start with an Israel Dosie three and Jarek Hotwagner jump hook for a 7-4 lead. Dosie, CUC's Men's Athlete of the Week, continued his excellent performance in the early going, scoring a quick eight points and grabbing two rebounds. Aurora quickly got back into the game with the long ball from Jordan LaGrone with three quick ones from downtown. Midway through the first half, both team were trading baskets and playing with a very high, energy. After an abysmal first five minutes shooting from the Spartans, Aurora tightened up on defense that forced CUC turnovers, which led to easy transition buckets and a 16-2 run. The Cougars shot a staggering 56 percent from the field, but 11 turnovers compared to Aurora's two did CUC in as Aurora went into halftime with a 59-46 lead.
The second half got off to a blazing start for both teams, but the Cougars couldn't make any stops on defense to chip into the Spartans' lead. The hosts stayed hot from three as the Cougars had no answer for Ty Carlson. Aurora jumped out to an 18 point lead, but CUC's Hotwagner kept the Cougars in it with a couple of three-point plays to cut the lead to 11 midway through the second half. Concordia-Chicago was unable to get the lead under 10 as Aurora kept matching everything the Cougars were doing on offense. Like in the first matchup, the Spartans were able to pull away late to win.
The Cougars were led by Kris Claybon who had a career-high 22 points on 11-13 shooting to go with four rebounds, followed by Hotwagner who racked up another double-double with 17 points (7-12) and 11 rebounds. The Spartans had a pair of 30-point scorers in Max Vickers and Carlson on a combined 22-37 shooting from the field.
Concordia-Chicago shot a sizzling 58 percent from the field, but only 22 percent (4-18) from three compared to Aurora's 51 percent from the field and 48 percent (18-38). Turnovers were a big factor in the score discrepancy as the Cougars had double the amount of turnovers than the Spartans.
The Cougars (4-14, 3-12 NACC) return to action Friday night as they head to Seward, Nebraska to take on Concordia University Nebraska as part of the 66th annual Concordia Invitational Tournament. Tip off is set for 8:00 p.m.
