January 27, 2010

Concordia 72 Rockford 70

Falcons move into first place tie in NAC North

Mitchell Schneider hit a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds left to break the games' final tie and send visiting CUW home with a hard-earned 72-70 win over Rockford last evening.

Concordia, 6-4 in the incredibly competitive Northern Division of the NAC, moved into a first place tie with Edgewood as the Eagles fell in overtime at Marian.

CUW trailed 67-62 with three minutes to play before baskets by Tyler Granrath, Mitchell Schneider, and Granrath again gave the Falcons the lead with 1:20 left.

Guard John Ulrich followed with a layup to make it 70- 67 before the Regents came back to tie with just 20 seconds left.

Schneider was fouled on the ensuing possession and his pressure-packed free throws made for a happy bus ride back to Mequon.

Shawn Cassidy's team had a host of heroes besides Schneider. Granrath led CUW scoring with 17 points including 5 of 6 from the charity stripe. Senior Paul Rosin had his best collegiate performance with a 16 point effort that included 6 of 7 shooting. Corey Stark, starting in place of injured center Kyle Barth, pulled down 15 rebounds.

Free throw shooting was a huge plus for Concordia as the Falcons hit 21 of 25 for the evening and made all of their final eight attempts in the closing minutes. Rockford, conversely, was 6-11 from the line for the entire game.

The Falcons, 9-8 overall, host Southern Division leader Concordia- Chicago at 7:30pm on Friday night in the Buuck Fieldhouse.