Beaten At The Buzzer

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/05/18)---A rain cloud in the form of a 15-foot buzzer beater from the right baseline pushed away the sunny skies of a Cobber comeback attempt and led to a 69-67 loss to Gustavus.

Collin Larson drilled one of his four 3-pointers in the game with 1:13 left in regulation to give Concordia a 67-66 lead but then the Gusties scored the final three points in the game – including the game winner as time expired.

Concordia (5-16/3-13 MIAC) trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half and still faced a 9-point deficit with 3:35 left in the second half. The Cobbers scored the next 10 points in the game to take the 67-66 lead. Larson was the driving force behind the comeback train. He started the run with a pair of free throws, finished it with a dagger 3-pointer and had seven of the 10 points.

The Cobbers then held the Gusties to a single free throw on their next possession which tied the game at 67-67 with 46-seconds to play. Concordia ran the shot clock down and tried to come up with a game winner but a turnover gave Gustavus the ball with 15-seconds to play. After a pair of timeouts the Gusties found themselves with the ball having to inbound the ball from next to the lane extended with only 2-seconds remaining on the clock. Gustavus then ran an inbound play where the player passing the ball into the court stepped onto the court and received the ball back. He then squared up to the basket and calmly drained the 15-footer to win the game as the buzzer sounded while the ball was in the air.

The teams were virtually even on the stat sheet. Concordia shot 50.0% (25-for-50) from the floor and 44.0% (11-for-25) from 3-point range.

Gustavus (11-11/9-8 MIAC) made one more shot from the floor after shooting 45.6% (26-for-57). The Gusties had three less made shots from outside the arc but still shot 47.1% (8-for-17) from long range. Gustavus also drained three more free throws in the game.

Larson used his four 3-pointers to finish with a team-high 20 points. He was 7-for-12 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. He also added four rebounds and two assists.

Jordan Davis and Mason Carpenter also finished with double-digit point totals. Davis was 5-for-9 from the field and had 11 points while Carpenter was 2-for-3 from outside the arc and had 10 points.

Freshman point guard Bryden Urie had a game-high five assists and also came away with seven points and two steals.

STAT ADVANTAGE: The only two areas that featured a semi-significant edge in the stats for the teams came from points off of turnovers and points in the paint – but the two ended up canceling each other out. Concordia had 24-18 advantage in points off of miscues while the Gusties held a 14-6 edge in points around the basket.

COLLIN CLIMBING: With his four made 3-pointers in the game, junior guard Collin Larson now has 47 made long-range shots. That is tied for 16th in Cobber history for most 3-pointers in a single season. Larson needs 10 more to climb into the Top 10. The Concordia all-time record for 3-pointers in a season is 94 set by Jason Sorenson in 1996.                       

WHAT'S NEXT: The Cobbers will have little time to get over the buzzer beater as they host St. Mary's on Wednesday, Feb. 7 in the final game of a three-game home stand.

CONCORDIA vs. GUSTAVUS HIGHLIGHTS: