River Forest, Ill. - The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) Cougars men's basketball team stayed at home to host the Wisconsin Lutheran College (Warriors) in a huge Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) game.
Inside the Box Score:
- Joel Watts (Homewood, Ill.) led the Cougar offense with 18 points.
- Dominating the offensive and defensive game, Jacob Collicott (Lafayette, Ind.) had 17 points and 16 rebounds.
- Aaron Brown (Joliet, Ill.) and Darrian Williams (Garland, Texas) had 13 and 10 points, respectively.
First Half
The Warriors were the first on the board with a knock down three taking an early 3-0 lead. Cougars Brown and Collicott scored on back-to-back driving layups to pull the Cougars into the lead 4-3.
Brown scored once more for the Cougars before the Warriors recorded eight unanswered points, forcing the Cougars into their first timeout of the game. Out of timeout the Cougars struggled to take over all momentum but were able to slowly chip away at the deficit. Led by Williams and Collicott, the Cougars were back within six points, where the score was 27-21, the Warriors. With four minutes remaining in half, the Cougars and Warriors went basket for basket until the Warriors knocked down six unanswered points to end the half. The last bucket of the half came from a buzzer-beater three for Watts, however, the Cougars still trailed going into half where the score was 45-33.
Second Half
The Cougars commanded the start of the second half with a three from Watts and a short jumper from Brown.
With the score at 45-38, Warriors still leading, the Warriors took a timeout to break-up the Cougar takeover. The two teams exchanged baskets until 12 minutes remained on the clock, where the Cougars went on an 11-2 scoring run, bringing the score to 59-51. The Cougars would highlight back-to-back made layups by Sean Beckman and Collicott where Collicott was fouled and brought to the line for one more. Capitalizing on a huge momentum shifting play, the Cougars still trailed 62-56. The score was within six-points but the Warriors regained their momentum and brought their lead back to 10 from a made layup and two free throws. There was just under seven minutes remaining when the Cougars started attacking the point deficit. Watts with a three and Ryker Johnson with a made jumper that he was fouled on, contributed to the Cougar buckets where the score was now 68-62, favoring the Warriors.
With four minutes remaining in the game, the Warriors and Cougars went 23-16. The final points for the Cougars came from a three pointer from Williams. The team effort from the Cougars proved not to be enough, and they fell 92-78.
What's Next
The Cougars will travel to Madison, Wisconsin to take on Edgewood College in another round of NACC play. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm. Coverage for all things CUC men's basketball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
