The Benedictine University men's basketball season is still alive after a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament quarterfinal victory over Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday. Next up for the Eagles is a semifinal game against third-seeded Concordia University Wisconsin, with the winner advancing to the NACC Championship game on Saturday.
 
Making its eighth NACC Tournament appearance in nine seasons in the conference, the second-seeded Eagles downed the Warriors of Wisconsin Lutheran 64-55 on Saturday at the Dan and Ada Rice Center. The Eagles held WLC to just 15 first half points and built a lead as large as 19 early in the second half. Off the bench, guard Tahron Harvey complied one of his best stat lines of the season, leading the Eagles in points (17) and rebounds (nine) while also dishing out two assists in just 24 minutes.
 
Guard Kevin Rollins led BenU's starting unit with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and guards Michael Blaszczyk (nine points, seven rebounds) and John Dodson (eight points, five rebounds, three assists) also put together solid afternoons. The victory was BenU's sixth straight, a season-high.
 
Concordia Wisconsin advanced to Tuesday's match-up by way of a victory over sixth-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering on Saturday. The Falcons topped MSOE 71-56 despite Austin Steuck, the NACC's leading scorer, pouring in 34 points on 14-of-24 shooting for the Raiders. The Raiders shot just 35.5% as a team compared to CUW's 42.6%. Guard Bradley Prinsen led the Falcons with 17 points.
 
The Falcons have played strong basketball of late as well, winning four straight and compiling a 13-3 record since 2015 began. CUW is led in several categories by sophomore point guard Eric Kittel, as the 5'7 Wisconsin native tops the squad in points per game (12.0), assists per game (2.6), and steals per game (1.9). Up front, junior forward Keith Kahlfeldt is the player to watch, as he's second on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per contest. Another forward, junior Brett Boettcher, averages 9.2 points and leads the team in rebounding at 7.5 per game.
 
Traditionally, the Falcons are one of the NACC's strongest programs. CUW has finished with an overall record above .500 in seven of the team's nine seasons in the conference, with exceptions being last year's team and 2006-07 season. CUW has never won a conference Regular Season or Tournament Championship, but the program is appearing in the tournament for its seventh time and has four tournament victories on its resume.
 
The Eagles and Falcons have never met in NACC Tournament play, but the two teams split a pair of games this season. On December 6, the Eagles won at CUW 63-57 behind the scoring of Blaszczyk (20 points), Harvey (16 points), and Tim McGinty (11 points). Despite 22 turnovers, the Eagles were able to capture the victory in large part due to a 40-23 rebounding advantage.
 
On January 10, the Falcons earned revenge in Lisle, defeating BenU 82-72. Senior guard Mark Scholz gave the Falcons 20 points off the bench, as CUW overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to score 53 points in the second half. Harvey led the Eagles with 15 points.
 
Tuesday's game will be streamed live at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/benu/, with live stats also provided. Luke Stanczyk will be on the call. The winner of Tuesday's game will face the winner of the top-seeded Aurora University and fourth-seeded Edgewood College, with highest remaining seed hosting the NACC Tournament Championship game on Saturday.