Winter Storm Arrives At End Of First Half

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/10/18)---Concordia trailed St. Thomas by four points with 5:14 left to play in the first half and that's when the winter storm blew into town and covered the Cobbers' upset chance in a thick bed of snow.

Concordia was outscored 18-4 in the final 5-minutes of the opening half to fall behind by 21 points at the break. The Cobbers were never able to shovel their way free in the second half and lost 91-61 against the Tommies.

The loss ends Concordia's one-game win streak and drops their overall record to 4-9 on the season. CC is now 2-6 in the MIAC. St. Thomas puts an end to their one-game losing skid and is now 7-6 in all games and 5-3 in league play.    

The Tommies' length and athletic ability led to 22 more field goal attempts, nine more made 3-point shots and a 43-36 edge in rebounding. UST had a 17-12 advantage in offensive rebounds which led to a 15-11 margin in second chance points.

Cobber big man Austin Heins led the team in scoring. He went 8-for-8 from the free throw line and finished with 12 points. He also had the crowd-roaring play of the night when he got free in the lane in and sent down a thunderous dunk with just over 6-minutes to play in the first half. Heins' slam brought the Cobbers to within five points right before UST went on their game-changing run.

Collin Larson went 2-for-3 from outside the arc and finished with 10 points. He was the only other CC player in double figures for the game. Senior Kevin Wolfe came away with a team-high six rebounds and also added seven points.

Concordia wound up shooting 31.4% (16-for-51) from the floor. St. Thomas attempted 22 more field goals and shot 438% (32-for-73) from the floor.

The Cobbers only made a trio of 3-pointers in the game and shot 27.3% (3-for-11) from outside the arc. The Tommies were able to can 12 three-balls and made 38.7% (12-for-31) of their attempts from long range.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DANDY: Collin Larson came away with his second straight double-digit scoring outing. He leads the team with eight games with at least 10 points. Last year Larson didn't score more than eight points in a single game. Larson currently leads the Cobbers in scoring with a 11.0 points /game average.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF STEVE NASH IS GOING ON HERE? Concordia continues to dazzle at the free throw line in 2018. The Cobbers went 26-for-31 at the charity stripe against St. Thomas and recorded a season-high 83.9% free throw percentage. Concordia has failed to shoot under 69.0% from the foul line in their four games in 2018 after not shooting above 66.7% in their nine games in 2017. Concordia is now shooting 61.9% from the free throw line which is the first time all season they have been in the 60-percent range from the free throw line.

WINTER STORM WARNING: The 31.4% field goal percentage was a season low for the Cobbers and marked the first time they had shot under 40.0% all season long.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will stay at home and host Carleton on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. The Knights are 7-6 overall and 5-3 in the MIAC and have lost three straight.

CONCORDIA vs. ST. THOMAS HIGHLIGHTS: