ONU Nips Roosevelt In Battle of CCAC Heavyweights

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – Roosevelt was the victim of a second-half rally Wednesday as the Lakers fell 81-77 to Olivet Nazarene in a battle of the top-two teams in the Chicagoland Athletic Conference.

The Lakers, themselves the architects of several second-half comebacks this season, got out to a fast start on the road and opened up a 15-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game. Roosevelt (13-7, 10-2 CCAC) led by as many as 14 in the opening half, but still managed to hold a seven-point advantage at halftime against the Tigers.

However, Olivet Nazarene scored on seven of its first eight shots of the second half to overcome that deficit and take the lead. The Tigers never relented either over the final 20 minutes, connecting on 62.5 percent of their shots in the second half, including shooting 5 of 6 from 3-point range to claim the top spot in the conference. The Lakers, who entered the game atop the CCAC, shot just 2 of 11 from deep in the second half to fall into second place due to the tiebreakers.

Maurice Commander was the much-needed spark for the Lakers in the first half with 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting. He made four of his five 3-point attempts in the half to help Roosevelt shoot 6 of 10 from behind the arc in the first half, and 48.4 percent overall. Commander added 11 points in the second half to finish with a career-best 31 points in the loss.

Roosevelt's defense stood strong in the first half by limiting Olivet Nazarene to just 2 of 7 from long range and making the game hard for the CCAC's leading scorer, Tyler Schmidt. Yet the Lakers could not match that efficiency in the second half and fell behind less than five minutes into the second half. After Julio Montes II nailed three free throws on Roosevelt's first possession of the second half, the Tigers scored 15 of the next 19 to take their first lead of the game.

Montes finished with 12 points for Roosevelt but shot just 4 of 13 from the field, including just 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Chima Nwosu and Yuri Swinford both contributed 10 points off the bench for the Lakers, but no one else scored more than six points. Nwosu also led the Lakers with eight rebounds, helping Roosevelt win the battle on the glass 31-30.

Matt Myers connected on a second-half 3-pointer in his 78^th career start for Roosevelt, tying him with Kevin Priebe for the fifth-most starts in program history.

Roosevelt will hope to rebound Saturday at the Goodman Center when it hosts Calumet St. Joseph at 3 p.m. looking for the season sweep.