Marian University men’s basketball (4-4, 1-3 NACC) rallied to defeat Concordia Chicago 72-70 for their first NACC win of the season.
Marian jumped all over the Cougars in the opening minutes taking a 17-4 lead in the first 6:20 of action. Concordia Chicago rallied with a 16-5 spurt to trail by just two points and eventually took the lead at 35-33 with just 1:58 left in the half. The Cougars and Sabres traded the lead in the final minutes with CUC taking a 37-36 advantage into the break.
The Sabres would go 14-28 (.500) from the field in the opening stanza and shot 5-11 (.455) from beyond the arc. Sophomore Delvin Barnstable went 7-9 (.777) to lead Marian with 16 points.
After some seesaw action, Concordia Chicago built a seven-point advantage at 51-44 with 14:04 left drawing a Marian timeout. The break in the action is exactly what Marian needed as the Sabres scored the next seven points unanswered to tie the game drawing a Cougar timeout. Marian and CUC traded the lead for the remainder of the game with CUC taking a one-point lead with 1:25 left to play after a pair of free throws. With 25 ticks left, junior Ben Basten would hit a corner three to give the Sabres a 72-70 advantage. The Sabre defense then stepped up in the final seconds forcing a desperation three in the final seconds that was errant and sealed the win.
Marian finished the game going 28-54 (.519) from the field with 11 made three-pointers and a 47.8-percentage from beyond the arc. Barnstable finished with a team-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds and three blocks. Senior Kivontay Shaw posted 20 points in his first start as a Sabre, while fellow senior David Britton chipped in 12 points with five boards and seven assists.
Marian travels to Cardinal Stritch for a 7:30 p.m. non-conference tilt Tuesday, Dec. 14.
–FightBlueFight—
