RIVER FOREST, ILL. - The Concordia University Chicago Men's Basketball team fell to the St. Norbert College Green Knights after a weary first half performance left the Cougars climbing out of the trenches.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Jacob Collicott (Lafayette, Ind.) led the Cougars with 13 points, five rebounds, five steals, four assists, and one block.
- Justin Greenlee (Brown Deer, Wis.) followed closely behind with 11 points, three rebounds, one steal, and one block.
- Emanuel Wilson (Wheaton, Ill.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with ten points and five rebounds while tacking on two steals.
FIRST HALF
The Cougars won the tip and had the chance to strike first, but a missed jumper from Collicott would put the ball in the hands of the Green Knights where they jumped to a 2-0 advantage. A retaliation jumper from Collicott would even the score, but be the last bucket they would see for nearly three minutes while the Green Knights extended their lead to six. After the Wilson jumper to bring the Cougars to four, another six and a half minute draught would do extensive damage as they fell behind by 17.
Final buckets from
Darrian Williams (Garland, Texas),
Joel Watts (Homewood, Ill.), and Greenlee would leave the Cougars trailing by 20 heading into halftime with a season low of 14 points scored.
SECOND HALF
Needing to shift some energy around in the final 20 minutes, the Cougars struck first with a fast steal and jumper from Greenlee. A layup from
Carter Langendorf (Aurora, Ill.) and a three from Collicott would cut the Cougars' deficit down to 16, but with a lot of work still ahead.
As the Cougars attempted to dig out of the hole they fell in, Collicott took matters into his own hands and picked up three buckets in a row, but it wouldn't hold as the Cougars would give up consistent baskets to the Green Knights. A momentum shifting and-one from Greenlee would bring the Cougars within 12.
A three from
William Bishop-Green (Chicago, Ill.) would keep the Cougars consistently scoring, but with the Cougar defense letting up a Green Knight three they would continue to sit in a double-digit deficit. As the Green Knights rolled onto an 8-0 run, the Cougars saw themselves trailing by 20 yet again with less than nine minutes to play. As the Cougars went back-and-forth a clean ankle-breaking layup from
Jordan Matthews (Chicago, Ill.) would give the senior his first points of the night with under five minutes to play in the game.
As the Cougars picked up nine more points as time wound down, they would outscore the Green Knights in the second half 41-34. Despite outworking the Green Knights in the final 20 minutes, the Cougars couldn't climb out of the trench they fell in from the first half.
The Cougars will be back in action on Wednesday as they host the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks for a 7:00pm tipoff. The theme is "White Out", so Cougar Fans be sure to sport your best white outfit. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
