Success In Saint Bonifacius

SAINT BONIFACIUS, Minn. (11/28/15)—It took Concordia a little over 13 minutes to shake off its collective tryptophan malaise after Thanksgiving.

The Cobbers trailed Crown 26-21 after the first 13:17 of play but then went on a 38-6 over the next 12:50 of play and rolled to a 97-64 win over the Knights.

The win is the second in the past three games against teams from the UMAC. Concordia also defeated North Central on Nov. 20. The Cobbers are now 3-2 on the season as they head into MIAC play which opens on Wednesday.

The biggest difference in the Cobbers' game in the early going was the return of senior All-MIAC forward Jordan Bolger. Bolger sat out the previous two games with an upper body injury and made his presence felt right away by scoring the team's first four points of the game and 10 of the first 17 points.

After Bolger scored his 10th point of the game on a free throw, the Cobbers led 17-16 and looked to be pulling out of their post-Thanksgiving funk. Unfortunately the holiday doldrums would continue for another three minutes as Crown countered with a 10-4 run to take a five-point lead at 26-21.

That's when Concordia's alarm clock went off and the team started to get their scoring legs in high gear.

A free throw by Dylan Alderman and then a pair of lay-ups from Bolger tied the game at 26-26 with 5:31 left in the opening period of play.

Austin Nelson was then hit over the head by the outside shooting fairy and he made long three straight long balls to extend CC's lead to 35-26.

Bolger would knock down two more free throws and then Nelson would connect on a jumper with under 30-seconds remaining to give the Cobbers a 39-30 lead at the break.

Concordia then scored 20 of the first 22 points in the second half to put the game out of reach. Senior Tom Fraase borrowed Nelson's long-distance calling card and made a trio of his own 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the second half. He had 11 of the team's first 20 points in the second half as the Cobbers sprinted to a 27-point lead out of the break.

Concordia would push its lead to 39 points late in the game and then finish off with a 33-point margin of victory.     

DIMES FOR DYLAN
Junior point guard Dylan Alderman had a career-high 10 assists in the win at Crown. The last time a Cobber player had a double-digit assist total was back in 2002 when Robbie Flint dished out 11 dimes vs. St. John's on Feb. 13. That covers a stretch of 333 games without a player getting more than nine assists in a game for CC. Alderman has had at least three assists in all five games this year. His 4.2 apg average is currently fourth in the MIAC.

BUSTING FOR BOLGER
Concordia averaged 71.5 points in the two games without senior Jordan Bolger. In the three games with Bolger the Cobbers are averaging 90.3 points per game and have scored over 80 points in all three games. Bolger is averaging 18.3 ppg this year and has scored at least 21 points in two of the three games he has played. CC is 2-0 in those 20-point performances. Bolger currently leads the MIAC in scoring.

FULL NELSON PART DEAUX
Junior Austin Nelson went 7-for-9 from the floor and 4-for-5 from behind the arc to finish with 18 points. He has now scored in double figures in three of the five games this season. Nelson hadn't posted a single double-digit total in his first two seasons of play in maroon and gold which covered a stretch of 33 games. Nelson is currently averaging 12.4 ppg.
   
ANOTHER ANDERSON ADDITION
Senior Isaac Anderson was 5-for-7 from the floor and finished with another career high point total. Anderson, who had 12 points against MSU Moorhead on Nov. 17, upped his career high total to 14 points. He is averaging 8.4 points per game this year which is a big jump from his previous career best scoring average in a season which came in 2014 when he average 5.0 ppg.

SUCCESS IN SAINT BONIFACIUS
Concordia shot 63.0% (34-for-54) from the field in the game. The Cobbers also connected on 56.3% (9-for-16) of their attempts from outside the arc. Both percentages are season highs for CC. The 34 made field goals ties a season high – they also had 34 makes vs. Minn.-Morris.    

WHAT'S NEXT? Concordia will open up conference play when they travel to No.4-ranked St. Thomas on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. The Tommies are 3-0 this year with double-digit wins over Wis.-Eau Claire, Emory and Southern Vermont.