WAUWATOSA, WIS. — In preparation for a huge weekend of Concordia battle, the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) men's basketball team had another Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) opponent to face off against. Traveling up north, the Cougars took on the Wisconsin Lutheran College (WLC) Warriors in an electric match-up. After huge offensive runs from both teams, the Cougars fell in this game by only one point at 97-96.
Inside the Box Score:
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Jordan Matthews (Chicago, Ill.) led the CUC offense with 22 points and tied for the most assists with five
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Right behind him was Jacob Collicott (Lafayette, Ind.) with 18 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds
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Sean Beckman (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and Justin Greenlee (Brown Deer, Wis.) both had 10-plus points on the night with 12 and 10 points, respectively
First Half
CUC would have a rocket of a start to this game, as they immediately went on a huge offensive run. They would lead 9-0 before WLC would even score to start this game. This came from points from Matthews and Collicott, along with back-to-back threes from William Bishop-Green (Chicago, Ill.).
Collicott would hit a three, followed by a Bishop-Green drive in the paint to take the lead to 14-5. Bishop-Green kept his momentum, before Greenlee got on the board at 18-7. It would then be Beckman who would find room on the court, with Emanuel Wilson (Wheaton, Ill.) hitting a three, to continue the score to 25-7.
After this run, the two opponents would begin to battle on offensive drives. Joel Watts (Homewood, Ill.) drove his way in for a layup and Beckman sunk a three to make it 32-18. The Warriors would continue to find ways past the Cougars defense, but they held strong throughout the first half. Matthews had a step-back three to make a huge splash 36-18.
These two teams were starting to feel the energy and drew fouls from one another to score at the charity stripe. Matthews and Elijah White (Sheboygan, Wis.) would hit some threes to help the CUC lead, but WLC began to chip away at 46-32. Collicott and Watts then made some moves, with Greenlee pulling out some plays of his own at 54-42. After some Warriors points, the Cougars would lead 54-44 going into the half.
Second Half
Coming out of the half, WLC opened up with some huge energy to cut the CUC lead down to six at 56-50. Collicott would pick up a jumper, but the Warriors were barreling ahead, just trailing by one possession at 58-56. Brent Hatten (Olney, Ill.) would make some noise by draining a three, then jumpers from Greenlee and Wilson would make it 65-60 CUC.
With WLC within reaching distance, Matthews grabbed a jumper and a shot behind the arc to keep CUC in front 76-70. Watts would feed a great pass to Wilson to keep the momentum going 81-74. As the game began to heat up, Beckman hit a three and Matthews moved in a jumper at 86-79.
Bishop-Green and Collicott began to make moves of their own, keeping WLC away at 93-90. The Warriors were not letting off the gas, continuing to get within one of the CUC lead. Hatten picked up a giant three to make the score 96-92, but WLC responded with one of their own immediately. WLC would take the lead of the game after drawing a foul and sinking both free throws at 97-96. This is where the game would end, with the Warriors running away with the win at 97-96.
The Cougars have a big weekend ahead of them, as they travel to Concordia University Wisconsin for the Concordia Invitational Tournament. They open up Friday night with an 8 p.m. tipoff, Saturday play will follow after the results of the Friday game. Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
