CUW men power past Ann Arbor 88-79

SEWARD, Neb. --  Trailing Concordia- Ann Arbor 46-43 at the break, CUW came out strong to grab the lead and then gradually pull away from the Cardinals in round one of the CIT this afternoon.

Ann Arbor (10-12) blistered the nets with close to 50% field goal accuracy including four long range bombs over the initial twenty minutes to take that three point lead.  John Schaeffer hit all four of those treys, but was held without any additional 3-pointers in the final half.

Shawn Cassidy's Falcons, now 12-7, used superior size to take control of the boards down the stretch.  Falcon depth and scoring balance are usually positive components and that was the case in this game.

Steve Zielinski (Sr./ Brown Deer, Wis.) finished with 16 points and four blocked shots while Malcolm Bowers (So./ Germantown, Wis.) and senior Brian Jackson (Carol Stream, Ill.) added 15 points each. 

Bowers and Jackson tied with Mark Scholz (So./ Greendale, Wis.) for rebound honors as the trio snared six apiece.  Scholz hit seven of ten free throws over the final minutes to help secore the win.

"Donaldson (Bryan) and Camara (Boubacar) had flu symptoms, but both played through it," explained Cassidy. "Their contributions were important too."

Seven other Falcons added important points and contributed to CUW's 47% field goal shooting.

Schaeffer finished with 25 points to lead Ann Arbor and Andrew Patrick added 16.

CUW will play the winner of this evening's Concordia Chicago and Concordia Seward matchup tomorrow evening for the men's CIT title.