Cougars Win Thriller Against Concordia

(Lansing, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's basketball team won a nailbiter of a game over the Concordia Cardinals Saturday evening at Gannon Gymnasium.

The first half was back and forth, but Cleary would build a six point lead with five minutes to play in the first half, after Bennie Crenshaw Jr. hit a three pointer, and Chris Williams made a layup to give Cleary a 25-19 lead.  Concordia responded, and went on an 8-0 run to take the lead, and the two teams would trade baskets the rest of the half, but Cleary would hold onto a one point lead at the break with the score 34-33.

Concordia came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, and built a twelve point lead with 12:28 to play in the game.  The Cougars would cut the lead to seven points, and it remained at that deficit until a Jaylen Cole-Williams three pointer with just under four minutes to go cut the lead to four.  A Cardinal basket with 2:39 put the score to 62-56, but a Tim Kewley dunk cut the deficit back to four points.  Another Jaylen Cole-Williams three pointer with 1:26 to play made the score 62-61.  After a defensive stop by the Cougars, Jaylen Cole-Williams was fouled with 41 seconds, and made the ensuing pair of free throws to give Cleary the lead at 63-62.  Cleary would get another stop, and Tim Kewley was fouled with 17 seconds to play, but missed the one-and-one free throw to give Concordia the ball back.  Cleary's defense would stand tall, and forced an air-ball shot attempt as time expired to give the Cougars their second win of the season, both against Concordia.

Jaylen Cole-Williams was the lone Cougar in double-figures, as he scored 10 points, 8 in the final four minutes of the game, to go with 2 rebounds and 2 steals.  Chris Williams, Tim Kewley, Brockton Kohler, and AJ Hess all had 9 points for the Cougars.  Tim Kewley also grabbed a team high 7 rebounds and blocked 4 shots for the Cougars.

Cleary improves to 2-21 overall, 2-16 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will be on the road on Wednesday, February 14, when they travel to Grand Rapids to play Cornerstone at 7:30 PM.