Falcons struggle past Sabres 69-64

Fond du lac

One strong run made the difference as CUW (18-3 and still undefeated in the NAC) got past Marian 69-64 in Fond du lac last evening to clinch at least a share of their second consecutive NAC championship.

The 3-18 Sabres came out on fire, building a 24-16 lead at the 6:03 mark of the first half and dreaming of a major upset.

Shaken to reality, Concordia turned up their half court defense and outscored Marian 20-0 to take a 12 point lead into intermission.

For the remainder of the contest CUW was pitiful from long range (2-20), allowing Marian to hang around, although the 5 point final margin was as close as the hosts got to overtaking Shawn Cassidy's squad.

The Sabres missed a trio of 3's down the stretch that could have cut their deficit to just 2 points.

Falcon reserves Zach Neumann and Nick Doedens played key roles off the bench, combining for 20 points.

CUW was an impressive 23-27 from the free throw line (compared to Marian's 6-7) but the Falcons were actually outrebounded by the smaller but hard-working Sabres 36-33.