SPOKANE, Wash. -- Taking on their first ranked opponent of the season, the Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team ultimately fell 143-95 to the #9 Whitworth University Pirates.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Senior Mitch Pelissier started in his 68th consecutive game today and scored in double-digits for the 75th time in his Cougar tenure. The Washington native had the team-high 26 points and game-high nine assists.
- Landen Gladney returns to his double-double streak, grabbing 10 rebounds and 16 points. Tonight was the rookie's second consecutive double-double and 10th straight game with double-digit rebounds.
- Sawyer Concklin was big for the Cougars, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
- Out-sizing CUC, the Pirates had 14 fast break points and 21 second-chance points compared to four and seven for the Cougars, respectively.
The flood gates opened immediately for both teams this evening, as
Jalen Meeks got the Cougars on the board with a basket from downtown, making it an 8-3 game in favor of the Pirates. Pelissier followed Meeks' lead down the stretch, with a three-pointer of his own to cut the deficit to four. Between the duo, the Cougars would establish a 20-16 lead over the nationally ranked Pirates, just five minutes into the match up.
Meeks went on to tally eight of CUC's first 11 points, and Pelissier shot 6-of-8 for 16 points by the 12:27 mark, with his second to last basket of the half tying the game at 25 points apiece between the two teams.
Concordia-Chicago and Whitworth would teeter back and forth for the next four minutes, with CUC trailing by three at 38-35. Despite coming close to the Pirates, the three-point deficit wass as close as the Cougars would get for the remainder of the game.
By the end of the half, Whitworth took hold of the game with a 71-56 lead, taking advantage of 15 Cougar fouls and shooting 20-23 from the charity stripe.
After a strong shooting performance from the first half (55.3 percent), the Cougars dropped 17.5 percent and shot .378 (14-37) over the final 20 minutes of play.
Whitworth one-upped their first half performance and went on to score 72 second-half points to ultimately pull away with the victory.
Tonight closed out Concordia-Chicago's northwest tour as the Cougars will return to the floor in 2019 when they travel to Aurora University on Thursday, Jan. 3.
