Falcons Edged in Overtime in NACC Quarterfinals

ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Falcons fought hard and showed heart until the very end on Tuesday night in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament Quarterfinals. The Concordia Wisconsin men's basketball team competed in its 16^th NACC Tournament on Tuesday and fell in overtime, 75-72.

The Falcons struck first on a basket from a basket from senior Gabe Pruss (North Fond du Lac, Wis.).

Both defenses kept the offenses under wraps in the first few minutes with five total turnovers, with the Regents turning over the ball four different times in the first five minutes.

The Regents claimed the lead at 8-6 before Gabe Pruss tied the game on a reverse layup and the Falcons reclaimed the lead with a step-back three-point basket.

Rockford reclaimed the lead at 13-11 with a three-point basket and a layup for Rockford forced a Concordia timeout at 15-11.

The Falcons stormed back with layups from senior Zech Hans (Hartland, Wis.) and senior Freeman Jackson (Green Bay, Wis.) to tie the game.

Back-to-back baskets from Freeman Jackson gave the Falcons the lead back to Concordia before the Regents quickly went on a 7-0 run to take back the lead.

Zech Hans drained a three-point basket after a shot clock violation for Rockford out of the final media timeout to start the comeback.

Gabe Pruss hit a pair of free throws to cut the Rockford lead to 30-28 at halftime.

The Falcons used a 10-0 run to take back the lead. Zech Hans started the run with a three-point basket. A layup from Gabe Pruss gave CUW the lead and senior Samuel Meerstein (Green Bay, Wis.) scored the next five points of the contest.

The Regents stormed back from a nine-point deficit to tie the game at 45. Gabe Pruss scored on back-to-back layups to give the Falcons a 49-45 lead.

The two teams exchanged punches and the lead flipped from possession to possession.

Zech Hans gave the Falcons the lead at 62-61 with a three-point swish with 1:07 left.

Gabe Pruss then pushed the lead to three with a layup off an inbounds pass.

The Regents tied the game with a three-point basket with 18.8 seconds left.

The Falcons had the last shot in regulation but it bounced off the rim.

The Birds won the tip-off start overtime and junior Jonah Jurss (Sheboygan, Wis.) sank a three, only to have Rockford counter with one of their own.

The Blue and White marched down and had a left-handed layup from Gabe Pruss to have Rockford score another three-point basket.

Rockford pushed the lead up to 73-69 with another three-point basket.

With a minute left, the CUW defense forced an over-and-back call to get the ball back and Samuel Meerstein sank a three from the corner to cut the deficit to one.

A layup from 26 seconds left pushed the lead back up to three for the Purple and White.

The Falcons could not connect on a three-point basket, but the Regents missed the free throw to give the Birds one last chance.

The Falcons were unable to get a shot off as the Rockford fans stormed the court for the quarterfinal victory.

Gabe Pruss finished with a game-high 24 points and six blocks. Both of those are career highs for the senior.

Samuel Meerstein finished two assists short of a triple-double performance with 12 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and four steals.

Freeman Jackson finished with 15 points, four assists, a steal and a rebound.

Zech Hans had 14 points in the battle and senior Tevin Dillon (Prattville, Ala.) had three for the Falcons.  

Rockford will face Wisconsin Lutheran in the NACC Semifinals on Thursday.

CUW thanks the senior class of Austin Thur, Freeman Jackson, Zech Hans, Samuel Meerstein, Tevin Dillon and Gabe Pruss for all of their hard work and commitment to the men's basketball program.