By Joel Krenz
On January 26th and 27th, the 67th annual Concordia Invitational Tournament took place at Concordia Wisconsin in Mequon, Wisconsin. All four teams, the Concordia Nebraska Bulldogs, Concordia Ann Arbor Cardinals, Concordia Wisconsin Falcons, and the Concordia Chicago Cougars traveled from far and wide to compete in the 2nd longest running college tournament in the nation. The Cougars came into the tournament looking to change the fortunes of their past teams, as both the men’s and women’s teams combined had won only one game in the past 5 years.
The women’s side of the bracket was daunting, with all four teams coming in with a winning record and Concordia Nebraska coming in as the #1 ranked team in NAIA Division 2 with a 22-0 record. The Cougar women were up to the task, however, as the bested the Concordia Wisconsin Falcons by a score of 71-61 in the first round. The Cougars had a slim lead for almost the entire game and were able to stretch the lead to ten before the final buzzer sounded. Winning that game not only gave the Cougars a berth in the championship game the next night, but it also gave the Cougars sole possession of 2nd place in the NACC conference race.
Saturday night was the big one, a matchup with the Bulldogs of Concordia Nebraska in the championship game at 5:30. With a seemingly impossible task ahead of them, the Cougars showed their heart and willpower as they were only down 5 to the Bulldogs at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Cougars it didn’t get any better from there, as the height and depth of the Bulldogs wore the Cougars down to win by a final score of 102-56. Taylor Jacobson was named to the All-CIT team.
The Cougar men were also pitted against the home Falcons in the first round of the tournament in a game that also counted towards the NACC standings. The Cougars put up a spirited effort behind 17 hard earned points from Jonathan Wilson, but in the end the Falcons were able to maintain their lead and hold on to the win with a final score of 99-85.
In the consolation game on Saturday, the Cougars were prepared to face the Bulldogs of Concordia Nebraska and the Cougars really came out firing. They jumped out to an early lead but couldn’t hold it as the Bulldogs went into the half with an 18 point lead. Behind 33 points from Mitchell Pelissier, and 17 from Jalen Meeks the Cougars came roaring back in the second half. Unfortunately the Cougars ran out of time and fell by a score of 95-87. Mitchell Pelissier was named to the CIT All-Tournament team for the second straight year.
Along with the basketball games was a cheer and dance competition between the four Concordias. The Dazzlers had a near flawless performance to place 2nd in the dance competition while the cheerleaders performed extremely well to place 3rd. Overall it was a fun weekend with all four schools having excellent fan bases, especially the Cougar faithful. Mark your calendars for next year in Ann Arbor because the Cougars are coming. 
