Two of the hottest teams in the NACC faced off in Geiseman Gymnasium Saturday night, as the Cougars of Concordia University Chicago hosted the Sabres of Marian University. CUC came away with the victory 71-63, picking up their fourth-straight win while stopping Marian's own streak at four in the process. The Cougars were propelled by solid free throw shooting, going 28-40 from the line.
Inside the Box Score
-
Senior Izak Ruddell (Saint Joseph, Mich.) posted a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds, both of which were season highs for the senior. His 14 rebounds also established a new career high.Â
-
Junior Tavarus Davis-Williams (Fox Lake, Ill.) added 13 points while grabbing 5 rebounds.
-
Senior Jordan Matthews (Chicago. Ill.) scored 13 points, with 11 of them coming from free throws. He also dished out three assists and collected three steals.Â
-
The Cougars as a team took 40 trips to the free throw line, converting on 28 of them.Â
-
CUC out-rebounded the Sabres 47-31, while winning the points in the paint battle 30-18.Â
It was a slow start of things for both offenses, as the first bucket was not scored until a Cougar dunk by Emanuel Wilson (Wheaton, Ill.) nearly a minute and a half into the game. Marian would not get on the board until nearly three minutes later with a David Britton three-pointer to take a 3-2 lead with 15:58 left in the first half.Â
Britton's three kicked off a 17-4 run for the Sabres, who built a 17-6 lead, their biggest of the night, with a little over eight minutes left to go in the first. The Cougars then started to claw back into the matchup. A Ruddell three with 2:15 to go in the half pulled the Cougars within two, 17-15.Â
After a Delvin Barnstable layup kicked the Sabres' lead back up to four, Concordia went on a six point run to take a 21-19 lead, capped off by a Ruddell assisted Davis-Williams layup. A Barnstable three pointer would give Marian a 22-21 lead heading into halftime, however.
Both offenses picked up the pace coming out of the locker room. CUC scored four points within the first minute after a Brent Hatten (Olney, Ill.) layup and two Wilson free throws. Another Britton three tied the game once again at 25 points a piece, and then the game became a real back-and-forth affair.Â
Five more ties were had by the end of the contest, and spectacular plays were sprinkled throughout. Davis-Williams got the lively Geiseman crowd up on their feet with an old fashioned three-point play at 13:59 mark to give the Cougars a 35-34 lead, and an acrobatic Justin Greenlee (Brown Deer, Wis.) block with 3:34 left in regulation got the crowd just as excited.Â
A Ruddell layup at the 7:11 mark gave Concordia a 51-50 lead, a lead which would hold until the final buzzer. The real highlight of the night came from Hatten, however. With 2:56 left to go, the junior flung up an awkward looking desperation shot from beyond the arc with the shot clock running out. Not only did the ball somehow find a way through the basket, Hatten also drew a foul on the play. The foul came from Scott Paulus, who fouled out of the game as it was his fifth.Â
With the momentum on their side after Hatten's highlight reel play, the Cougars held on for the 71-63 win. It was CUC's fourth-straight win as they improve to 7-6 overall and 5-3 in conference. With their four game winning streak snapped, Marian fell to 7-5 overall and 3-4 in conference.
Rockford University is next up on the schedule for the Cougars, as they will host this upcoming Wednesday night in River Forest. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and coverage will be available at cucougars.com/coverage. You can also keep up with the team on Twitter @CUC_menhoops.
