VALPARAISO, Ind. -- The Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team traveled to Valparaiso University tonight, as the Crusaders hosted CUC in their 2018-19 season opener.
While Valpo appeared to dominate the Cougars in the first half, CUC came alive in the second half and showed several moments of brilliance against its Division I competitor. In the end, the Crusaders walked away with a 121-65 victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Sophomore Jalen Meeks led the Cougar offense, scoring a team-high 17 points.
- Senior Israel Dosie dished four assists tonight, in addition to senior Mitch Pelissier and junior Neil O'Donnell each tallying three of their own.
- Freshman Landen Gladney shot 4-for-7 on the night, combining for 12 points. He also had a team-high six rebounds.
- The Cougars came out of the halftime break electric, out scoring the Crusaders 21-11 over the course of nearly eight second-half minutes.
- CUC improved its shooting percentage from 28.9 to 34.3 from first half to second. Overall, the Cougars shot 31.5 percent on the night.
As the Crusaders won the opening tip, Valparaiso started off the evening with a dunk from their own Deion Lavender. Senior Cougar Dosie responded right back with a layup of his own to settle the score at 2-2 in the opening minute of play.
Back-to-back jumpers allowed Valpo to pull away with a quick 8-2 lead by the 16:47 mark, and the Crusaders would continue to keep the pressure on all night long.
CUC began to threaten the Missouri Valley Conference opponent's lead when Pelissier hit a three-pointer to keep the Cougars within six, at 13-7, with 15 minutes to go in the first half.
Despite the Cougar pressure, Valpo managed to pull away with a 20-point lead, with 10 minutes to go in the half, and capitalized on several early CUC fouls.
At the conclusion of the first half, the Crusaders led 63-31. The Cougars had 12 first-half fouls and eight turnovers. Meeks led in the opening half with eights points, shooting 2-5 overall and 1-1 from beyond the arc.
The Cougars came out of the halftime break recharged, as Gladney kicked off the action with a defensive rebound that allowed Meeks to drive to the basket and drain the layup, making it a 63-33 game.
Gladney then followed suit with a drive of his own and sank two shots from the charity stripe to add four quick points to the scoreboard.
At the 17:30 mark, Meeks scored his second layup of the half and forced a Valpo timeout, as the Cougars outscored the Crusaders 6-1 in the opening minutes of the final half.
Just over three minutes into the second half, Valparaiso was charged with its fifth foul of the half, sending Pelissier to the free throw line. After draining both, Meeks then netted his second three-pointer of the night to improve CUC's scoring run to 11-3 in the opening minutes of the second half. The Cougars trailed 42-66 with just over 16 minutes remaining.
The Cougars and Crusaders continued to battle back and forth, as CUC appeared to come alive and stunt the Valparaiso offense. With 10:59 left to go, O'Donnell pulled up with a mid-range jumper to make it a 77-56 game and forced another Valparaiso timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Valpo regrouped and went on a tear to finish off the game with a 121-65 victory.
Concordia-Chicago will return to action when the Cougars officially open up the 2018-19 season at Kalamazoo College on Monday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. (EST).
