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Concordia University Chicago Athletics

Home of the Concordia-Chicago Cougars

Men's Basketball vs Edgewood
Cori Welch, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications
64
Aurora AUR 4-8,2-3 NACC
67
Winner Concordia Chicago CUC 5-6,3-3 NACC
Aurora AUR
4-8,2-3 NACC
64
Final
67
Concordia Chicago CUC
5-6,3-3 NACC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Aurora AUR 33 31 64
Concordia Chicago CUC 36 31 67

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Sydney Lloyd, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Cougars Claw Their Way to Victory Over Spartans

River Forest, Ill. - It's officially the second half of the season as the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) Cougars men's basketball team defended their home court for the first time in 2025. The Cougars opened 2025 by taking on the Aurora University Spartans for a round of Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) play. After a battle until the very end, the Cougars came out on top with a final score of 67-64.

 

Inside the Box Score:

  • Jacob Collicott (Lafayette, Ind.) commanded the court offensively with 18 points, two steals, and also grabbed seven rebounds.
  • Darrian Williams (Garland, Texas) shot 33% beyond the arch, where he went 3 of 9 and scored 11 points total. He also contributed a steal and three rebounds.
  • Showing his strength in the paint, Aaron Brown (Joliet, Ill.) had a game of his own, scoring 11 points for the Cougars, as well as had four rebounds, and a block.
 

Here's What Happened

First Half

The Cougars struck first with a putback jumper from Sean Beckman (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) in the first 20-seconds of play. The Spartans were quickly brought to the free throw line and made both, bringing the score tied at two points a piece. After a shared exchange of baskets with the Spartans taking the lead at 6-5, the Cougars switched all momentum in their favor where they went on a 11-0 run bringing the score to 16-6, favoring the Cougars, and forced the Spartans into their first timeout of the half. In this run, WIlliams knocked down two three-pointers, Joel Watts hit a three, and  Collicott made a putback layup. 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of timeout, the Spartans attacked the point deficit where they went on a 11-0 run of their own, pulling themselves back into the lead, and giving it right back to the Cougars, forcing them into their first timeout of the half. Favoring the Spartans, the score was 17-16. The Cougars wasted no time out of timeout where Williams knocked down yet another three, switching the lead back to the Cougars and making the score 19-17. 

 

 

 

With about eight minutes left in the first half, the Cougars and Spartans went basket-for-basket and point-for-point, where neither team had more than a four-point lead until three minutes remained in the first half. The Cougars pulled off five unanswered points from an Elijah White (Sheboygan, Wis.) three pointer, and midrange jumper from Williams, bringing them into a 7-point lead, where the score was 36-29.The final four points of the half came from the Spartans where the score going into halftime was 36-33, the Cougars. 

 

Second Half

The second half started off a little slower than the first, but both teams continued to battle. After the first five minutes of play in the second half, few points were scored but the Spartans were able to take the lead, which made the score 42-40. With 13 minutes remaining in the game, two Watts' threes and a Beckman putback layup brought the Cougars ahead and made the score 49-44. 

 

 

 

 

 

Consistent with the entire game, both teams continued to share baskets, where when the Cougars would score, the Spartans would answer back in the next possession. Keeping the game within five points for the next five minutes, the Cougars were able to gain an 8-point lead with eight and a half minutes to go. 

 

 

 

 

 

Bringing them to this lead was consecutive layups from Collicott, where one possession can be highlighted with a steal converting to a fastbreak layup.

With just under eight minutes to go, the score was 58-50, Cougars. With the time remaining in the game, the Cougars kept their lead, but the last two minutes of the game was a different story. With two minutes to go, the score was 67-58, in the Cougars favor, but the Spartans were unable to go down without a fight. Hitting a jumper and back-to-back layups, the Spartans quickly found themselves within three, where the score was 67-64. The Cougars held possession with just 30 seconds to go, but were unable to convert in points, giving the ball back to the Spartans. Calling a timeout in hopes of a last minute play, the Spartans had 10 seconds left to make something happen, fortunately for the Cougars nothing came of it and they found themselves leaving with a victory. The final score was 67-64, Cougars. 




 

What's Next

The Cougars will continue NACC play as well as defending their home court, where their next game is January 8th against Benedictine University, with a tip-off set for 7:00 pm. Coverage for all things CUC men's basketball can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.

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