AURORA, ILL. -- The Concordia University Chicago men's basketball team completed the series sweep against the Aurora University Spartans while securing a valuable win in the final race to the conference tournament. The Cougars saw important buckets from eight different players while overcoming the back-and-forth battle.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Jacob Collicott (Lafayette, Ind.) led the Cougar squad with yet another double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds while tacking on three assists and one block.
- Aaron Brown (Joliet, Ill.) picked up career-highs with 18 points and nine rebound while tossing in a steal.
- Darrian Williams (Garland, Texas) rounded out the Cougars in double-digits with 11 points, three rebounds, and three steals.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
The Spartans struck first, but the Cougars answered quickly with a layup from Brown to jump start the 8-0 run for CUC. With a 6-0 retaliation run from the Spartans, seven points at the hands of Collicott would put the Cougars up by as many.
A 5-0 run from the Spartans would bring them right back within reach of the Cougars, but buckets from Williams and Brown would keep them at bay. With Brown heating up inside the paint, CUC would jump out to as much as an eight point lead with under five minutes to play in the half.
A quick 6-0 burst from the Spartans would make it a two point game, but a layup and a pair of free throws from
Kenton Pryor (Homewood, Ill.) would extend their lead back out to six. A three from the Spartans would cut that in half, but a layup from Brown would bump it back up to five. An and-one from Aurora to close the half would leave the Cougars up by two, but with minimum momentum.
SECOND HALF
The Spartans would once again strike first in the second half and tie things up, but a layup from
Sean Beckman (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) would put the Cougars up once again. A lone free throw and a three from the Spartans would give them their first lead of the day since early in the first half, but a jumper and a three from Williams would put the Cougars ahead once again.
Exchanging points back-and-forth the teams would see the lead change ten times before the Cougars could get control in the final minutes. With the score even at 65 apiece, back-to-back layups from Collicott would put the Cougars up by four. A retaliation three from the Spartans with under a minute to play would make ti a point point game, but a pair of free throws from Collicott would once again extend the lead to three. Three final free throws to close the game would secure the 74-69 win for the Cougars.
CUC will be back in action on Saturday as they host St. Norbert College for a 4:15pm start. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
