With the season starting to wind down, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars welcomed the #16 Benedictine Eagles to Geiseman Gymnasium. Pitted with a tough task, the young Cougars came out with high energy to nearly erase a double-digit Eagles lead early in the second half, but the experience and ball movement of Benedictine proved to be too much with CUC falling by a final score of 106-84.
 
Benedictine jumped out quickly with strong offensive play down low with great ball movement. A good layup by Louis Fernando and a three-point play by Israel Dosie got CUC back in it trailing 13-9 just over five minutes in. Benedictine then rattled off an 8-0 run to open up a double-digit lead forcing a Cougar timeout. Jumpers by Kris Claybon and Mitch Pelissier brought the Eagle lead back to single digits but the ball movement for Benedictine kept resulting in good position inside. Benedictine continued to push the pace, forcing multiple Cougar turnovers to build on their lead. The Cougars started to heat up from the field with big threes by Evan Snyder and Jarek Hotwagner that helped CUC close the halftime deficit to 51-39.
 
CUC came out of the halftime break with a quick 4-0 run to cut the Eagle lead back to single digits. Dosie answered a Benedictine bucket with a big three from the top of the key to pull CUC within six with just over 16 minutes remaining. Benedictine used another run to open the lead back up but a three by Dosie again got CUC within single digits. Benedictine again used one of their scoring runs to take control. The Cougars continued to show fight, but the depth and big game experience of the Eagles showed throughout the second half, leading to a 106-84 win over the host Cougars.

Dosie led CUC with a career high 21 points on 8-14 shooting to go along with nine boards. Hotwagner finished with 16 points followed by Snyder with his career high of 12 on 4-7 shooting from downtown. As a team the Cougars shot 43 percent from the floor. Benedictine used their ball movement to create open shots resulting in 27 assists on the 39 made baskets.
 
The Cougars (5-17 4-13 NACC) will return to the floor on Saturday when they welcome Wisconsin Lutheran to Geiseman Gymnasium. Opening tip is set for 4:15 or 30 minutes following the women's game.