PEORIA, Ill. -- Our Savior's held on without Conor McCaffrey.
Not even an amazing outburst from Concordia's Jamison Fisher could stop the Eagles from completing the school's first regular-season sweep of the Cougars since 2016.
Jace Easley scored 29 points and Our Savior's topped Concordia Peoria 54-49 on Saturday.
McCaffret missed a second straight game after breaking his nose Tuesday in an 63-62 win at Pleasant Plains. McCaffrey recorded a triple-double Feb. 6 in a 55-38 victory over Concordia.
"I could not be prouder of this group of guys and their toughness and ability to step up," Our Savior's coach Phillip Heppe said. "Grit was a big part of it today."
Our Savior's (32-10) has won its last five meetings with Concorida (23-15) since a 5-game losing streak in the series.
Fisher and Concordia pushed Our Savior's right to the very end.
After Concordia trailed by 13 points with less than three minutes left, Fisher nearly brought the Cougars all the way back by scoring 19 points in the final 2:12. Fisher's sixth 3-pointer cut Our Saviors' lead to 50-49 with 6.7 seconds left.
"I honestly don't even know what was going through my mind," Fisher said. "I just knew that we needed to hit some shots and make some buckets and make some plays down the stretch to be able to come back and be in the position we were in."
Eagles' Jace Easley sank two free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining to make it 52-49. Our Savior's then fouled Noah LeCrone before Concordia could attempt a tying 3-pointer, and an exchange of words near the Concordia bench resulted in offsetting technical fouls.
LeCrone missed his first free throw. Concordia still could have attempted a desperation 3-pointer if LeCrone missed his second attempt and the Cougars got the offensive rebound. But the rebound went to Eagles' Jeremiah Perkins, who hit a pair of free throws to cap the scoring.
Fisher finished with 29 points. LeCrone had 15 points for Concordia.
Jeremiah Perkisn scored 13 points and Lucas Schmidt had 8 for Our Savior's, which committed a season-high 20 turnovers.
Our Savior's never trailed, capitalizing on Concordia's shooting woes. Concordia was shooting (27.4%) before making its last seven attempts of the game.
"You just got to make sure you do your job at your end," Heppe said. "And we did with our last five field goals and our last 10 free throws – and a lot of prayer."
BIG PICTURE
Our Savior's: Playing its third game in five days, Our Savior's was in command from the start, but McCaffrey's absence was notable down the stretch. The road doesn't get any easier for the Eagles, who close the season with road games against Bethel Morton and Trinity Bloomington.
Concordia: The Cougars are shooting poorly, particularly against quality teams. Concordia remains in good shape to make the LSA Play-In Game for the State Tournament, but it's hard to imagine the Cougars staying there for long unless their shooting improves.