Regan Coxon

McDermott Hits Seven Threes in Defeat to CUC

2/27/2021 8:59:00 PM

Box Score River Forest, IL – The Dominican University men's basketball team led 69-68 with 1:34 left to go but were unable to hold off Concordia University Chicago, losing 72-70 on Saturday night.

Luke McDermott had a career-high 23 points, going 7-of-11 from long-distance while Jackson Smith added 15, six of which came from the charity stripe.

The Stars shot out to an 8-0 lead after a McDermott triple and the advantage extended to double-digits when the senior made another three-pointer at the 14:21 mark to give his team a 17-6 lead.

The Cougars cut the deficit to single digits a couple of times before a second chance bucket from KJ Redfield pushed the margin back to 11, 27-16, with just under six minutes left in the first half. One-of-two from the line by Joshua Mercado held the lead at 11 but the Cougars scored the final five points of the session to trail by five, 35-29 at the break.

Another McDermott hit from beyond the arc, increased the differential back to nine on the first possession of the half before a Redfield jumper made it a double-digit game again, 42-30, three minutes into the second stanza.

Three minutes later, Smith made one-of-two from the line to give Dominican a 51-38 led but Concordia Chicago responded with a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to one halfway through the half. An Andre Hughes layup halted the streak before McDermott's seventh three-pointer of the evening nudged the advantage back to five, 59-54 with 6:40 remaining in the game.

A three-point play by the Cougars pulled them to within one, 69-68, before a three-pointer of their own gave them a 71-69 lead with 56 seconds left to go. After the teams exchanged turnovers, the Stars got to the line with 13 seconds left but missed the first free throw. After making the second one and fouling Concordia Chicago who made one-of-two to go up 72-70, Dominican was unable to force overtime, losing its season finale 72-70.

Both teams shot a nearly identical 46% from the field but the Cougars dominated the paint 50-26 for the comeback win.

"That game had all of the intensity of a rivalry game," said Head Coach Mark White. "It's a tough way to lose to end the season but we never really figured out how to close games and it hurt us again today. However, our competitive effort was there all season and that is something we can build on in the future."

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