February 4, 2017 - The Concordia-Chicago men traveled to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin this afternoon to take on a Marian University team in search of a win to keep pace for the final Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference playoff spot.  CUC is coming in fresh into today's game with this being their first game of the week after the grueling CIT games this past weekend.  Marian is currently on a two-game losing streak losing to top conference teams in Concordia Wisconsin and Benedictine.  The Cougars knew that this was a must win for the Sabres as CUC looks to play spoiler down the stretch.  A back and forth game, Concordia-Chicago were able to win a thriller when Israel Dosie hit a game winning three in the final seconds of the game.   
 
The game started with each team trying to find a rhythm on the offensive end.  Five minutes into the first half, the front court of Rodrigo Nava, Kris Claybon, and Jarek Hotwagner for the Cougars were clicking as they scored eleven of the Cougars fifteen points.  Marian matched CUC each time back as the Cougars transition defense was something left to be desired. It was a tight contest midway through the half with both teams were trading baskets with the Cougars having the largest lead of six.  With a Cougars three-point lead, the Sabres rattled off an 11-0 run highlighted by Kelvin Jones scoring five of the points to give Marian an eight point lead and force a CUC timeout.  Concordia-Chicago tightened up their defense late, followed by a couple jump shots by Mitch Pellisier to cut the Sabres lead to 43-41 heading into halftime. 
 
The Sabres got off to a hot start in the second half jumping out to an eight point lead with second chance points by Alex Manhardt and a couple layups by Evan Hansen.  Pelissier quickly answered with a three and an and one to cut the Sabres lead to two six minutes into the second half.  For the Cougars, it was Pelissier and Hotwagner that were keeping CUC within striking distance of Marian.  Deeper into the game, both teams were trading baskets as Marian wasn't able to pull away from the Cougars as the Marian lead only got to as large as six.  Three minutes left, coach Randy Rogers drew up a perfect play coming out of a timeout to give Israel Dosie an easy layup to tie the game.  Moments later, Dosie comes up with a huge steal and layup to give the Cougars first lead since early in the first half with just over a minute remaining.  With a tie game and 33 seconds left, the Cougars held for one last shot.  Off a back screen, Pelissier found Dosie in the right corner where he sunk the game winning three in the final seconds to win a thriller by the final score of 80-77.
 
For the Cougars, Pelissier led all scorers with a game high 29 points (11-17), 5 rebounds, and 6 assists.  Hotwagner finished with 16 points (6-15) and one rebounds shy of another double-double.   
 
The Cougars (5-16, 4-12 NACC) return to action Wednesday night as they return home to face nationally ranked Benedictine University.  Tip-off is set for 7:00pm.