Nov. 26, 2016 – Four games into the season, the Concordia-Chicago men's basketball team embarked upon conference play with a late afternoon game at arch-rival Concordia University Wisconsin. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Falcons were on their game from the opening tip-off, and they led from wire to wire in winning the first of two meetings this year by a final score of 97-76.

The Falcons took the early lead on a three from the left corner by Eric Kittel, and early 2-9 shooting had the Cougars spinning their wheels until a timeout after four minutes. The break did CUC some good as they answered with threes by Mike Walmer and Jarek Hotwagner to pull within 11-10. However, the three-point shooting warmed up on both sides, particularly for CUW's Kittel. The senior guard hit three from long range over the next few minutes and added a layup on the break as the Falcons' lead shot up to 27-12.  The home team's lead grew as high as 21 before the Cougars reeled it in a little in the final minutes with Hotwagner's buzzer-beating layup made the halftime score CUW 50, CUC 34.

The halftime shooting stats told the tale clearly. The Falcons hit 18-37 overall but a sizzling 10-20 from three-point range, led by Kittel's 4-5. Meanwhile, the Cougars shot just 12-42 overall and 5-15 from threes. Hotwagner was the only CUC player in double digits at the half with 12 points.

Concordia-Chicago's first three games all saw significant second-half comebacks in the mix, but a fourth one today was not meant to be. The Falcons' Jake Jurss provided the early punch for the Falcons as he hit three from downtown, two of them on consecutive trips to push the home team's lead to 69-41. The Cougars were unable to make a serious charge after that point, but Kyle Hoffman provided a bright spot. The senior hit five threes in the second half and put up a career-high 22 points. Hotwagner finished with 18 points, a young career-high for the freshman.

The Falcons were led by Kittel's 23 points and Jurss' 21. They improved to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in the conference.

Concordia-Chicago will host their home opener on Wednesday when they take on Aurora University at 7 p.m.