Feb. 9, 2019 - When all five of your starters score in double figures, your team figures to be tough to beat. When three of your players post double-doubles, your odds of winning figure to be even better. That was the case for the Concordia-Chicago Cougars on Saturday afternoon, as they attacked the Dominican University Stars from all different sides, with the result being an 88-71 CUC victory and a sweep of the season series.
The Cougars' balance showed itself in the opening minutes as four of the five starters scored in leading CUC to a 10-2 lead after five minutes.
Neil O'Donnell started and ended that run with baskets, and he would go on to score a career-high 13 points. After a timeout, the Stars' offense began to come to life, and they battled back to within two points at 14-12. However,
Landen Gladney stifled their comeback with a tip-in, and he hit a three a few moments later for a 21-14 lead. Concordia-Chicago soon extended their lead into double figures, and it reached its biggest of the first half when
Jalen Meeks hit a three at the 1:11 mark to make the score CUC 44, DU 29. The Stars shaved just two points off that lead before halftime, as the Cougars went into the locker room up 44-31.
While the trio of Gladney, Meeks and
Mitch Pelissier provided most of the offense in the half,
Hassan Basbous was creating a different type of problem for the home team. While his scoring was limited to a handful of free throws, Basbous was practically immovable on the boards. The halfime stats showed Basbous with 10 rebounds, and a bigger second half was yet to come.
Dominican scored the first two points of the second half, but Concordia-Chicago would not allow the Stars to trim the lead to single digits. DU's Jackson Smith tried to give the home team some life with a couple of threes, but a Pelissier three stifled the momentum on one of those. Later in the half, a turnaround by Basbous put him into double figures in points, and that was followed a moment later by Gladney throwing down a slam on the fast break in front of the CUC cheering section. Those two baskets were symbolic of the Cougars having everything going for them, and they went on to close out a solid 17-point win on the road.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Hassan Basbous captured a career-high 19 rebounds and completed his third consecutive double-double with 10 points.
- Also posting double-doubles were Mitch Pelissier and Landen Gladney. Pelissier had 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Gladney had 21 points and 10 rebounds,
- The Cougars played a tidy game, hitting 16 of 20 free throws and recording 15 assists and 12 steals against just 11 turnovers.
The Cougars (6-16, 6-11 NACC) return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Marian University.
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