20-5 Streak Down The Stretch Helps Cobbers Clip Cardinals

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/31/24)---It was a tale of two scoring stretches in the second half of the Cobbers' midweek matinee with St. Mary's. Concordia watched the Cardinals score 16 straight points to take a 1-point lead, but then the Cobbers responded with a 20-5 streak of their own down the stretch and won going away 72-58.

St. Mary's erased a 15-point deficit midway through the second half and took a 53-52 lead with 7:19 left to play. Concordia responded by scoring the next six points and 20 of the final 25 points to record the 14-point victory.

The win is the second straight for Concordia, who moves to 12-7 on the year. CC is 8-6 in league play and remains in fifth place in the MIAC standings – with a 2-game lead over Bethel and St. Olaf who are tied for sixth place.

Like the second half, the first period of play found the Cobbers leading for most of the opening 12 minutes of play. Concordia led 3-0 after the first possession of the game, but never trailed after that as they built a 9-point lead on a Jacob Cook layup with 14:49 to play.

St. Mary's (5-15, 4-11 MIAC) went on their first-half streak by outscoring Concordia 13-3 over the next 8 minutes of play and grabbed an 18-17 lead.

The teams would exchange leads over the next four minutes until CC closed out the opening half on a 9-3 string to take a 32-26 lead into the break.

Cook was one of the difference makers for the game as Concordia outscored St. Mary's 20-16 in points in the paint and held a 38-27 advantage in rebounding.

Cook was 6-for-10 from the floor, 2-for-2 from the arc, and finished with a game-high 20 points. He also came down with a game-high 12 rebounds to record his fourth double-double of the season. The 20 points mark the second time this year he has dropped at least 20 in a game.

Junior Noah Christensen was a force around the basket in the first half. He hauled down 10 boards in the first 20 minutes of play and finished with a career-high 11 rebounds. He is averaging 8.33 rebounds in Concordia's last three games. He also upped his season average to 5.2 rpg, which is third on the team.

Besides Cook, the Cobbers had three other players with at least 11 points in the game. Senior point guard Jackson Jangula was 4-for-8 from distance and finished with 14 points. The four made 3-pointers tie his season high. Jangula also tied his season high for assists with four.

Rowan Nelson and Jackson Loge both finished the game with 12 points. Nelson was 4-for-8 from the floor, while Loge was 5-for-7 and also came away with five rebounds.

Senior guard Matt Johnson was the final member of the Cobber double-digit superfecta. Johnson was 3-for-7 from outside the arc and posted 11 points. He also had five boards and four dimes.

UP NEXT: Concordia will return to the road for another weekend away game. The Cobbers will play at Carleton on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 3 p.m.    

CONCORDIA vs. ST. MARY'S HIGHLIGHTS