Jan. 28, 2017 - It has been two months since the Concordia-Chicago Cougars and Concordia Wisconsin Falcons have met in men's basketball play. When the two rivals met this afternoon in the third-place game of the Concordia Invitational Tournament in Seward, NE, it was a much different CUC team that awaited the Falcons. The past two weeks have been a transition period for the Cougar men, and this weekend has been a chance to see this current roster continue to gel on the floor. While the Cougars continue to progress, there was no averting a loss to the Falcons today by a final score of 81-66.

One of the recent changes has been Kris Claybon, and the 6'6" forward got the Cougars started today. After falling behind 5-0, Claybon hut a short jumper and then a long three to tie the score. The Falcons regained the lead as Jake Jurss hit the second of his three first-half triples and would remain in the lead for the duration. CUW led by as much as 13 in the half, but Mitch Pelissier kept the Cougars within sight, shooting 3-6 from the field and scoring eight first-half points. Evan Snyder added a bucket late in the half as the Cougars trailed 36-24.

The Falcons' Eric Kittel looked to help CUW pull away early in the second half. Held without a field goal in the first half, Kittel scored CUW's first seven points to extend his team's lead to 15. However, the Cougars came back behind Claybon and Jarek Hotwagner, who combined to score the Cougars' first 10 points. Israel Dosie's jumper made it a seven-point game at the 15:36 mark.

Momentum kept swinging back and forth, as CUW recovered to build its lead back to 13. But the Cougars charged back as Snyder's three midway through the half got the Cougars back to within six at the 8:13 mark. Unfortunately, that was as close as CUC would get the rest of the way. Josh Hau's three-point play quelled CUC's momentum, and the inside play of Hau and Andrew Fratzke would score some big baskets down the stretch to help the  Falcons pull away.

Pelissier shot 7-13 and 5-5 from the free throw line to lead the Cougars with 19 points. Claybon added 6 points, going 7-10 from the field, while Dosie added 12 points. Hau led CUW with 19 points while Kittel had 15 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals.  Fratzke added 12 points and 13 rebounds, the latter stat helping the Falcons to a 43-34 advantage on the boards. The Cougars shot 45 percent to the Falcons' 41, but CUW tallied nine three-pointers to just three for CUC.

The Cougars will have a breather in the schedule now. Their next game is next Saturday, Feb. 4 when they return to conference play at Marian University.