River Forest, Ill.- The Cougar men came into tonight's game looking for their first winning streak of the season. Last game against Wisconsin Lutheran, the Warriors were leading the whole game in their 106-98 win over CUC. Tonight's game was the opposite of that. Both teams traded buckets all game until late when CUC could not hold onto a late double digit lead that allowed the Warriors to come back and win 111-102 in overtime.
Early in the first half, Wisconsin Lutheran and Concordia Chicago were feeling each other out on both ends of the floor. The referees were letting both teams be physical on defense that led to forced shots. With not much going on offensively, CUC tied it at 13 with back to back threes from Justin Schwarz and Mitch Pelissier. About midway through the half, the Warriors jumped out to their largest lead of six behind the play of the Kennedy brothers Collin and Christian. The Cougars responded quickly after that with a 10-0 run of their own highlighted by more three balls from Henry Woo Jr. and Jalen Meeks to take a four point lead with seven minutes to play. Late in the half, CUC extended their lead to seven, which was their largest lead at the time with another Woo Jr. three and a layup from Hassan Basbous after a beautiful pass from Neil O'Donnell through some traffic in the paint. WLC cut into the lead in the final minute, but the Cougars took a 47-43 lead into halftime.
Minutes into the second half, both teams continued to trade buckets. An O'Donnell three and two free throws by Meeks gave the Cougars an eight point lead. With 12 minutes to play, Wisconsin Lutheran went on an 16-3 run in which their junior star forward was at the forefront of it to give the Warriors a four point lead. With the game tied at 70 with eight minutes to go, Concordia-Chicago went on a 13-3 run as the freshman Schwarz had eight points during that span to give the Cougars a convincing ten point lead. With three minutes left and a nine point lead, the Warriors came storming back led by Mack Knueppel. The Cougars couldn't buy a basket in the final minutes as WLC were able to tie the game at 92 and send the game into overtime.
The overtime period was all Wisconsin Lutheran. Senior guard Chase Nowak absolutely took over the game, in which he had nine of the teams 19 points in extra time to beat the Cougars 111-102 to sweep the season series.
Meeks once again led the Cougars with 25 points (7-14 FG, 7-10 FT), nine rebounds, and three steals. Woo Jr. and Schwarz stepped up their game tonight combining for 36 points on 12-33 shooting. Pelissier also put in a solid game of 17 points, nine assists, and five rebounds.
The Cougars (2-15, 1-12 NACC) will return to action Friday when they travel to Mequon, Wis. to take on Concordia-Wisconsin as part of the Concordia Invitational Tournament. Tip off is set for 8:00pm.
