River Forest, Ill.- Concordia-Chicago returned home this evening to take on Saint Mary's (Minn.) for the first time in the program history.  The Cougars built a first half lead into double digits to propel them to their first victory of the season over the Cardinals 86-76.

The Cougars shot 48% from the field, while the Cardinals only shot 40%.  Concordia-Chicago were led by Mitch Pelissier with 19 points (7-15) and six rebounds, followed by Jarek Hotwagner contributing 17 points (7-10) and eight rebounds.

In the first half, the Cougars jumped out to an early 9-7 lead on a Jonathan Wilson layup and didn't look back from there.  CUC caused havoc with their press to force 18 Cardinals turnovers that led to many easy fast break points.  Wilson got CUC going on the offensive end doing most of his damage from the mid range game and underneath the basket to really separate the Cougars and Cardinals.  Concordia-Chicago really turned it in their favor when they went on a 7-0 run midway through the half highlighted by threes from Pelissier and Neil O'Donnell to give the Cougars a 25-14 lead.  Concordia-Chicago extended their lead to as much as 18 on the stellar point guard play of Israel Dosie getting to the hoop for easy layups and knocking down his free throws.  The Cardinals managed to cut into the lead a bit, but CUC still was leading at halftime 46-33.

The second half proved that we had a game on our hands.  The Cougars got their lead back up to 16 with four straight points from Hotwagner, but Saint Mary's managed to force multiple Cougars turnovers to cut the lead to as little as six.  However, CUC's Dosie again came up big with a dagger three late to put the game out of reach and give the Cougars a well earned 86-76 victory. 

The Cougars (1-2, 0-1 NACC) will return to action this upcoming Tuesday when they travel to Milwaukee, Wis. to take on Wisconsin Lutheran. Tip-off is set for 7:00pm.