PEORIA, Ill. -- - From pregame warmup drills though the pickup-game vibe of the second half, the Our Savior's players kept filling Concordia's mostly empty arena with chants and cheers.
There's a fun and relentless energy around the Eagles, making an already talented team even tougher to beat.
Jace Easley had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double of the season, Conor McCaffrey scored 22 points in 16 minutes, and No. 5 Our Savior's cruised past Concordia 84-53 Thursday for its seventh consecutive victory.
“I always tell my teammates, ‘Enjoy this moment,” Easley said. “Don’t let anything get in the way this season, because this is memories that’s going to last for a lifetime.”
Lucas Schmidt added 15 points and six steals to help the Eagles (16-5, 12-3) stay in second place in the bruising CIL with two weeks to go in league play. The Eagles had a 31-8 edge in fast-break points, shot 56% from the floor and forced 18 turnovers, as Schmidt stifled Cougars star Noah LeCrone.
“You’ve got to have guys who are enjoying doing what they’re doing and enjoying doing it with each other,” Our Savior's coach Phillip Heppe said.
Jamison Fishes led Concordia (13-10, 6-10) with 16 points and six rebounds, with his father, former NCAA player, watching in person for the first time in his basketball career. Nothing beyond that was worth remembering for the sputtering Cougars .
Just have a sense of pride. We can’t let guys come in like today and just do what they want to do,” backup forward Eric Curry said.
Whether a fantastic layip by Jace Easley or a slick lob pass from McCaffrey to Logan Allen for a reverse layup, the Eagles had a lot to smile about.
“It was special," Schmidt said, “just hearing the energy from the bench.”
Easley added yet more fuel for his State player of the year candidacy.
“I have no idea who in the hell anybody thinks is any better than him right now,” Heppe said.
AILING COUGARS
The best-shooting team in the CIL used a 27-6 run over a six-minute stretch bridging halftime to dominate Concordia for the second time this season — after a 82-55 victory on Dec. 15.
The Cougars couldn't have looked more deflated or flustered. When LeCrone wasn't ready for a pass along the perimeter by Fisher in the closing seconds, McCaffrey intercepted it and flung a half-court shot that swished at the buzzer for a 38-18 lead.
On the first play of the second half, Perkins rebounded a missed 3-pointer in front of fellow 6'3 Liam Robbins and put it back up with no resistance.
Robbins, playing through a sprained ankle, had four blocks and four assists but went scoreless in 13 minutes. The Cougars were also missing Gabe Kalscheur, their best defender and third-leading scorer, because of a broken finger on his shooting hand. LeCrone and Fisher each had 16 points and Collins scored 11 points for Concordi , which has lost six of its last eight games.
“We certainly seem a little bit disjointed with those two guys out, but we’ve got to find a way,” Cougars coach said.
This was Concordia's third-worst defeat at home in program history, behind a 39-point loss to Christ Lutheran in 2004 and a 34-point loss to Bethel in 2018.
BIG PICTURE
Our Savior's: With a seventh Quad 1 win, as defined by the LSA's formula for strength of schedule, the Eagles matched Christ for the second-most in the Stare. They're coming in hot for a No. 2 seed, with five road wins in a row and their best LSA record since the national runners-up in 2015.
Concordia: Despite wins over Jacksonville, Bethel Morton and Trinity Bloomington — three of the top four teams in the LSA and all ranked in the top 11 of the latest LSA poll — the Cougars are nowhere near a lock for the LSA State Tournament. Winning their last four regular season games might be necessary to get in.
UP NEXT
Our Savior's: Visits Chatham Glenwood on Sunday. With a game against Mount Pulaski rescheduled for Tuesday, the Eagles will play four games in eight days ending with a trip to New Berlin next Thursday.
Concordia: Hosts Mount Zion on Tuesday, a game moved up two days to make room for a rescheduled matchup at Mount Pulaski that will now be played next Tuesday.