The College of DuPage men's basketball program opened the second half of Wednesday, Dec. 17's home contest against Oakton College down by a point. After the first basket of the period went DuPage's way, the Chaparrals never trailed down the stretch and coasted to an 87-65 victory inside PEC Arena.

Down as man as eight points in the first half, Vuk Zogovic converted a lay-up to cap a COD rally and give the Chaparrals a one-point lead, 28-27. The Owls would pull away but a successful three-point play from Zogovic brought the game back within a bucket at 35-37. Another Vuk bucket off an Ethan Howard assist tied the contest up with 3:31 remaining in the half. 

At the break, Oakton led 41-40. Once Logan Glover scored the opening basket of the second half to go up 42-41, COD never trailed in the final frame. 

With 15:50 to go, Zogovic's three-pointer made it a 48-47 game before Howard followed it up shortly after with his own three-point play.

Oakton nailed back-to-back three-pointers to make it a closer contest, befoe Amari Ford came away with his own consecutive breakaway dunks to maintain a slim one-point lead.

A Chaparral run, highlighted by a Kaden McGee three-pointer, brought the game to a double-digit lead with 10:30 to go. McGee followed it up with another shot from deep, and Zogovic promptly followed with his own to grow the lead to 12; 75-63 with 6:45 remaining.

JJ Hernandez along with Ford and Howard each nailed their own makes from downtown while the defense snuffed out any Oakton offense down the stretch to the tune of an 87-75 win. 

"That was a heck of a second half...I thought our defensive adjustments stood out, we rebounded the ball well in the second half," said head coach Joe Kuhn. "[In the] first half, we didn't rebound well, and then they shot the ball well. That second unit that we went to in that second half, [Nathan Fisher] was tremendous for us. Kaden [McGee] gave us a great lift off the bench. You know I thought that group really set the tone for the rest of the way." 

Ethan Howard led the Chaps with 17 points. Four more players scored in double digits - Zogovic with 16, Ford and Glover with 13 apiece and Hernandez with 10. Adyn McGinley dished out a team-high 5 assists in the ballgame. 

COD (8-5) hits the road on Dec. 19 to Carl Sandburg College for a 3 p.m. contest in Galesburg. Since 2014, DuPage is 4-2 against the Chargers including a 94-69 victory last year.