Jan. 27, 2018 – The Concordia-Chicago Cougars returned to the floor at the R. John Buuck Field House this afternoon for day two of the 67^th annual Concordia Invitational Tournament. After falling to a hot-shooting Concordia University Wisconsin team last night, the Cougars were pitted against the Bulldogs of Concordia University Nebraska, who lost a two-point game in the final seconds yesterday to Concordia University Ann Arbor. The two teams played a spirited contest, but the Cougars were again victimized by the opponents' outside shooting ability, falling to the Bulldogs by a final score of 95-87.

The Cougars and Bulldogs played a free-wheeling pace for the first few minutes. After Nebraska scored the opening bucket, Mitch Pelissier nailed a three to the left of the key. A Bulldogs' three gave them a 5-3 lead, but Justin Schwarz and Jalen Meeks scored from in close, and Pelissier connected from the deep right wing for a 10-5 lead, forcing the Bulldogs to call timeout.

A jumper by Meeks later extended the CUC lead to 17-8 before the Bulldogs rallied back. A couple of threes by Brevin Sloup led the charge, and a three-point play by Clay Reimers gave the Bulldogs a 25-23 lead.

Nebraska's lead grew from there as three-point shooting did much of the damage. The Bulldogs hit a trio of threes, two from Jake Hornick, as they ran off a 21-2 streak before Meeks' jumper ended it. Nebraska also capitalized off of 11 CUC turnovers in the half and built their lead to 21 points before Pelissier's three just ahead of the buzzer made the halftime score 50-32.

The Bulldogs shot 17-31 for the half, including 8-15 from downtown, while the Cougars were 14-29 after a hot start, just 3-8 from long range.

Concordia-Chicago's offense looked to rally in the second half. Neil O'Donnell followed a layup with a three from the left corner, and Jonathan Wilson followed a Pelissier three with a nice putback at the rim. However, Nebraska repelled both of those charges, and a Gillingham three at the xxx mark had CUNE's lead at 74-57.

The Cougars' most serious charge of the half then unfolded, starting with Wilson's putback. Pelissier followed with a three and two free throws, and Woo added a jumper in the lane. The 9-0 run trimmed the Bulldogs' lead to eight, but the Cougars missed their next couple of shots that could have made it even closer, and the Bulldogs had enough down the stretch to hold off a determined CUC effort.

Pelissier connected for 33 points for the third time in his career, including a new career-high of six threes. Meeks added 17 points and Woo 13, nine in the second half. The Cougars shot 44 percent from the field but captured 45 rebounds to the Bulldogs' 35. Pelissier and Hassan Basbous hauled down nine boards each.

Nebraska (16-7) was led by Hornick's 21 points and Shuck's 20. The Bulldogs made 16 of their 37 three-point attempts (43 percent) and were also deadly at the free throw line with 21 of 24.

Concordia-Chicago (2-17) will return to conference play this Wednesday when they host Aurora University at 7:00.