#WinningWednesdays

#WinningWednesdays

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/29/14)—You'll have to forgive Concordia for trying to reschedule the rest of their MIAC games for Wednesday at home. The Cobbers beat Bethel 61-51 in a long-range shooting contest to post their fourth straight Wednesday home win this year.

For the second straight Wednesday the Cobbers connected on 10 3-point field goals, didn't trail in the second half and outlasted a conference opponent. Concordia shot 47.1% (10-for-24) from outside the arc to pull out the 10-point victory over the Royals. The teams combined to shoot 46 3-point shots in the game which is the most in a single game for CC this season.

The win continues the trend of alternating wins and losses for the Cobbers. Concordia has traded wins and losses for six straight games and bumps back to the .500 level in all games.  CC is now 9-9 overall and 5-8 in conference play. Bethel loses for the first time in three games and falls to 11-7 overall and 7-6 against league foes.

Last Wednesday the Cobbers shot 47.6% (10-for-21) from outside the arc to post an 11-point win over Macalester. Against the Royals, Concordia made seven long balls in the first half to seize control of the game and take a 35-28 lead into the break. The decisive stretch in the game came with the score tied midway through the opening period. The Cobbers proceeded to connect on five of their next seven 3-point attempts and grab a seven-point lead at 29-22 with 4:56 to play in the period. Concordia would never trail from that point forward and did not allow the Royals to get to within five points for the entire second half.

With the teams content to work the ball around the perimeter and knock down the open shot, there were very few fouls and free throws in the game. The teams only shot 14 total foul shots in the game. Both teams also took care of the ball with the Cobbers only committing seven turnovers and BU ending the game with 10 miscues. Concordia has recorded under 10 turnovers in six games this season – three of which have come at home on a Wednesday.

Concordia had four players score in double figures and was led by the 7-for-15 shooting of Brandon Giese. Giese finished with a game-high 19 points and made four shots from behind the arc. He also had four rebounds and four assists. Jordan Bolger led all players with eight rebounds and also contributed 12 points.

Perhaps the biggest contribution of the night came from sophomore guard Brett Bergeson who came off the bench to spark the Cobbers in the first half and finish with 11 points. He scored eight of his 11 points in the first period of play. Bergeson hadn't scored more than three points in the previous six games before Wednesday's game.

Tom Fraase was the fourth member of the double-digit quartet. He was 3-for-5 from outside the arc and wound up with 11 points.  

Concordia will now hit the road for a pair of games on Saturday and Monday. The Cobbers will play at St. Mary's on Feb. 1 at 3 p.m. and then head north to the Twin Cities to play at Augsburg on Feb. 3 at 7:45 p.m.