The Concordia University Chicago Cougars scored 23 points off of 17 Dominican University turnovers to top the Stars 74-66 in Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) men’s basketball action on Wednesday night.
Devin Pankey gave the host Cougars a 15-point lead, their largest of the night, with a fastbreak lay in with 11:06 remaining in the second half. The Stars responded with a 20-9 run, capped by a
Milos Mandic (Munster, Ind.) three, one of three second half triples for the Dominican senior, to pull Dominican within 66-62 with 2:12 to play. However, that was as close as the Stars would get, scoring just four points the rest of the way to fall to 7-11 on the season and 4-6 in NAC play.
Mandic ended the night with a team-high 19 points, 13 coming in the second half, on 7-for-14 shooting from the field while grabbing seven rebounds in his second start of the season.
Darrius Nelson (Michigan City, Ind.) came off the Stars’ bench to chip in 11 points in the losing effort.
As a team, the Stars were 11-for-25 from three-point range but had 17 turnovers, compared to seven for the Cougars, and made just 11 trips to the free throw line to the Cougars’ 17-for-21 effort from the foul line.
The neighborhood rivals split the season series with Dominican posting a 64-62 win at Dominican back on November 30th.
The Stars will return to action on Saturday, hosting the Edgewood College Eagles in a NAC tilt. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
