KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- In a neck-and-neck match up, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars fell 114-93 to the Kalamazoo Hornets after a detrimental final five minutes of the game. CUC trailed the Hornets just 87-89 with 6:50 remaining, but late foul trouble and turnovers proved to be costly in the team's opening night loss.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Newcomers Cade Mousel, Landen Gladney, Raymond Falk and Izak Ruddell all made their collegiate debuts in tonight's game.
- Gladney earned a double-double with 14 rebounds and 16 points in his first game as a Cougar. The Chicago native reached his double-double feat by the 24th minute of the game.
- Sophomore Justin Schwarz led CUC with a team-high 23 points. He was 9-18 from the floor and 3-3 from the charity stripe. He also tied his career high.Â
- Mousel and Falk drained 12 and three points, respectively. Mousel was 4-7 from beyond the arc.
- Between the two teams, 53 three-point shots were taken.
- The Cougars committed 13 first-half turnovers, allowing 10 points off the turnovers as well. CUC ended the night with 24 turnovers.
- With the loss, CUC has dropped its fourth consecutive opening night contest.
Senior
Mitch Pelissier kicked off the night for the Cougars, draining a three-pointer off an assist from Schwarz. Despite CUC's quick start, it would be the team's lone lead of the first half.Â
After Pelissier's basket, the Hornets responded with nine unanswered points to take a 9-3 lead within the first three minutes of play. Junior
Neil O'Donnell would be the one to stop the Kalamazoo run, as he finger rolled a layup to pull within four of the Hornets.
As both sides continued to work, at the 13:18 mark, freshman Gladney was fouled on his way up to the basket. After draining both shots from the charity stripe, CUC pulled within two of the Hornets, which would ultimately be the closest the Cougars got to Kalamazoo in the first half.Â
After nearly 11 minutes of action, the Hornets earned their largest lead of the game, with a 30-16 advantage. With the deficit,
Sawyer Concklin entered the game and proceeded to drain back-to-back baskets from beyond the arc and keep Concordia within 10 of its opponent.
The Hornets remained aggressive and seemed to shut down any potential momentum swing from the Cougars. With just under five minutes to go, CUC found themselves down by as many as 16 points. However, back-to-back three pointers from newcomers Falk and Mousel repeatedly pulled the Cougars within a 13-point margin of Kalamazoo.Â
Under the two minute mark in the first half, Schwarz missed a three-point attempt, but O'Donnell flew across the paint to pick up the offensive rebound and dish the ball off to Gladney who managed to drain the layup and make it a 53-44 game. Pelissier would end the half making two foul shots and pulling CUC within nine of Kalamazoo, at 55-46.
The Cougars came out of the halftime break ready to work. Opening up, Pelissier drained a basket from behind the arc to pull within two, creating CUC's smallest deficit since the seventh minute of the game. Following the three-pointer, Schwarz drove to the basket, banking in a layup and foul shot, allowing the Cougars to take a 62-59 lead.
With 14 minutes remaining in regulation, Kalamazoo's returning leading scorer, Ben Reiter, made a clutch three-pointer to regain the lead at 68-66. CUC remained relentless, as Concklin made his third three of the night, to once again trade leads with the Hornets, at 73-72 in favor of the Cougars.Â
The two teams would continue to battle neck-and-neck, tying things up and switching leads back and forth until about the seven-minute mark. In the remaining minutes of the game, turnovers and foul trouble would plague the Cougars, as Kalamazoo went on a 25-6 run to defeat CUC 114-93.
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