The Dominican University men's basketball team suffered their first setback of the season, opening Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play with an 87-60 loss to the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons on Saturday afternoon at the Igini Sports Forum. The loss drops the Stars to 2-1 on the season with a non-conference tilt at Eureka College on deck for Tuesday evening.
"Give credit to CUW," said
Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach. "It was a battle for the first 28 minutes of the game. Then they turned up the intensity and we didn't respond very well—but we will improve. I like the energy and effort that our team plays with."
A back-and-forth first half saw eight lead changes with both teams leading by as many as seven along the way but it was the Falcons leading, 38-36, at the break.
An early second half run was all but negated when
Tyler Guest knocked down a jumper, capping an 8-0 spurt for the Stars and cutting the Falcons' lead to one, 49-48, with under 14 minutes to play.
Concordia Wisconsin regrouped after a timeout, building on their lead and eventually opening the first double-digit lead, 63-53, when Joey Zietlow completed a three-point play with 9:38 to play. The Falcons went on to score 11 of the next 13 over the next four minutes, opening a 74-55 lead and never looking back.
After shooting just over 38-percent from the field in the first half, Dominican shot just 10-for-35 over the final 20 minutes, including a 4-for-18 clip from three in the second half.
Braquan Echols led the Stars in scoring, dropping in 13 points in 21 minutes on 6-for-12 shooting from the field.
Tyler Guest added nine points and nine boards, narrowly missing his second double-double of the season.
For the Falcons, Zietlow finished with a game-high 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting while Jared Jurss and Jordan Johnson each logged a double-double. Jurss finished with 16 points and ten rebounds while Johnson finished with 15 points and 12 boards.
The Stars hit the road Tuesday, taking a break from league play with a 5:00 p.m. matchup against the Eureka College Red Devils in Eureka, Illinois.
