The Dominican University men's basketball team was downed by the smallest of margins on Wednesday night, falling to the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons, 90-89, on the road in Mequon, Wisconsin.  The is the second for Dominican in as many games to two of the top three teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), after the Stars were downed by Benedictine on Saturday, 76-67.
 
"We have pushed two of the top teams in the conference to the limits the last two games," said Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach. "We had a great practice yesterday morning and that carried into tonight. Right now we are focused on stacking good days together. We are continuing to improve and that is our goal—the wins will come."
 
With the Falcons leading by three, 45-42, at the break, Concordia Wisconsin tried to pull away early in the second half but the Stars kept reeling them back in.  Dominican used an 8-0 run to take a 56-55 lead after the hosts had built up a seven-point lead three minutes into the half.
 
The sides traded the lead eight times in the second half, including Dominican taking an 87-86 lead when Tyler Guest hit a layup in the paint with 1:46 to play.  After the Falcons scored, Luke McDermott was fouled and converted a pair of free throws with the Stars in the double-bonus.  The Falcons came down and recaptured the lead when Jared Jurs wiggled down the lane for a layup with the help of a high ball screen.
 
McDermott worked his way into the lane for the Stars before slipping on his jump stop, leaving his go-ahead look short and giving the ball back to the Falcons with 0:37 to play.  The Falcons put up a three with ten seconds to play. Guest cleared the rebound for Dominican on the miss and later got the ball back on the wing with his go-ahead look at the buzzer falling short.
 
The Stars shot 50-percent (31-62) in the loss, including 55-percent in the second half.  Jackson Smith dropped in a team-high 23 points, 16 coming in the second half.  McDermott and Guest added 18 and 16 respectively while Dylan Anderson came off the bench, rounding out four in double-figures, to score 13 points on 3-for-5 shooting and going 7-for-8 at the charity stripe.
 
For the Falcons, Jordan Johnson scored a career-high 31 points on 11-for-20 shooting from the field.
 
Dominican, now 8-10 on the season and 4-9 in NACC play, return to the Igini Sports Forum to host the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff on Saturday.  The game is the third straight for the Stars against the top three teams in the conference standings.