The Dominican University men's basketball team avenged its loss earlier this season to the Concordia University Chicago Cougars with a 70-67 win on the road in River Forest Rivalry Cup play.  Jackson Smith, Luke McDermott and Tyler Guest all scored in double-figures as the Stars erased a nine-point deficit early in the second half to pull out the win.
 
With the win, Dominican improves to 10-13 on the season and 6-12 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) with two games to play.  On Tuesday, the Stars travel to Milwaukee to take on the MSOE Raiders before returning home for the season finale against Lakeland University next Saturday.
 
"Today was a true rivalry game," commented Mark White, the Stars' head coach. "Last time, at our place, Concordia really embarrassed us. It was a true reflection of the character of this team that they were able to come back and gut out a win on Concordia's home court."
 
After a back-and-forth first half, the Stars saw their 32-31 halftime lead become a nine-point, 43-34, deficit behind a 12-2 run for the Cougars that spanned the first 3:18 of the half.
 
After a timeout, the Stars settled in offensively but did not make up much ground until an 8-0 run midway through the period, sparked by a McDermott three and capped by a Smith lay in on the break, evened the score at 54-54 with 10:06 to play.
 
Concordia kept in the lead until 4:15 when Guest knocked down a jumper to put the Stars in front for the first time since halftime, 66-64.
 
The Cougars evened the score on their next possession and then pulled back in front, 67-66, when Xeo Golding snapped a 90-second scoreless drought for both teams, hitting on the front end of a 1-and-1.  After Guest pulled down the rebound on the second free throw, the junior was fouled and made good on a pair of free throws to put the Stars back in front.
 
Dennis Handy then put the game on ice with a pair of free throws in the final 13 seconds before the Stars forced Cougars into a tough look from three at the buzzer.
 
Smith, 7-for-16 from the field, finished with a game-high 19 points while McDermott and Guest dropped in 14 apiece.  Including his free throws to round out the scoring, Handy finished with nine points in 36 minutes while Guest rounded out his eighth double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds. 
 
For the Cougars, Raushaun Amos and Golding tied for team-high honors with 17 points apiece while Brent Hatten and Charlie Reznikoff rounded out four in double-figures with 14 and 11 points respectively.