After stopping a six game losing streak with a 95-86 win against the University of Northwestern Ohio last Saturday, the Concordia Cardinals Men's Basketball team hoped to keep the momentum going against the conference leading Lourdes Wednesday night. The Cards would have their work cut out for them as the number 14 Gray Wolves came into the contest riding a seven game win streak, including 78-65 victory over Concordia just two games prior. In a close matchup, Concordia's upset bid would ultimately come up short, 74-60.
For the Cardinals, Greg Alexander would lead the team with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists (6-11 FG, 1-2 3PT, 3-3 FT) while Jerald Booker (5-15 FG, 2-6 3PT, 1-2 FT) and Emmanuel Dominguez (3-8 FG, 3-6 3PT) would also tack on 13 and 9 points respectively. Lourdes rarely pulled their starters, resulting in their top scorers being Julian Egbo with 20 points and 11 rebounds (7-10 FG, 1-2 3PT, 5-5 FT), Little Anderson with 14 points and 9 rebounds (5-12 FG, 0-4 3PT, 4-6 FT), and Clif Snow with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists (5-12 FG, 0-4 3PT, 2-2 FT).
To open up first half, both teams were a little slow to get things going on offense in a back and forth twenty minutes. Halfway though the first, Lourdes started to show what a complete team they are, taking a ten point lead. The Cardinals were resilient, as they would fight back to within three. Once again however, the Gray Wolves exploded to another big seven point lead fueled by superb offensive rebounding. CUAA still refused go quietly, fighting back to within three once again, and ending the half on a 6-0 scoring run; resulting in a 23-31 score at halftime in favor of Lourdes.
Starting out the second half much like they ended the first, the Cards continued to fight back, eventually tying the game early. Just when it seemed like the Concordia had a chance to solidify their upset bid, Lourdes pushed back with 15-3 scoring run, leading by 12 midway through the half. Whenever the game seemed to be getting out of reach for the Cards, their offense would get them right back into it after multiple Grey Wolves scoring runs. While the Cardinal defense continued to generate turnovers, they still struggled to find an answer to the Gray Wolves offensive rebounding. Ultimately the explosive Grey Wolves offense would be too much to come back from, with the Cardinals not able to get over the final scoring run, falling 74-60.
The Cardinals (4-10, 2-5 WHAC) are set to play again one more time before the holidays, as they travel to Kalamazoo to play the Kalamazoo College Hornets this Saturday. Tipoff is set for 1:00.
