Johnson's Season Highs Help Cobbers Drop Johnnies

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (2/05/24)---The Cobber 2024 rollercoaster ride continued in Collegeville. 48 hours after falling to Carleton, Concordia erased an 8-point halftime deficit, shot 61.1% in the second and rallied to beat league-leading St. John's 80-79.

The Cobbers had to survive a late flurry by the Johnnies, who trailed by eight points with 29 seconds left in the game and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to bring the final margin to 1-point, to record their first win at SJU since the 2017 season.

The victory ups the Cobbers' record to 13-8 in all games and 9-7 in the MIAC. The 13 overall wins are the most for CC since the 2016 season when they tied for third place in the conference standings.  

Concordia used the sharpshooting of senior guard Matt Johnson to outduel St. John's. Johnson, who put up a season-high 23 points on Saturday at Carleton, did that total three better by going 8-for-12 from the floor and 8-for-8 from the free throw line to finish with 26 points. His 26 points are the fourth most points scored by a Johnnie opponent this season.

Johnson also came down with a season-high eight rebounds as he has stepped into the forefront as the Cobbers make a push for the playoffs.

Concordia trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half and went into the locker room down 41-33 at the break.

The Cobbers came out of the break and scored the first seven points of the second frame. The swing stretch in the final 20 minutes of play started at the 10:10 mark when CC trailed by seven points. They used 3-balls from Johnson and Jackson Jangula, a Jangula layup and two made free throws from Rowan Nelson to go on a 10-0 run and take their first lead of the game at 60-57 with 7:38 to play.

Concordia never trailed after that point and pushed the lead to eight points before St. John's went on their last-minute rally.

The Cobbers shot 50.0% (25-for-50) from the floor, 40.0% (6-for-15) from distance and went 24-for-29 (82.8%) from the foul line.

The Johnnies (17-5, 15-2 MIAC) shot 48.3% (28-for-58) from the field, 44.4% (8-for-18) from outside the arc and 83.3% (15-for-28) from the free throw line.

Concordia had four starters finish with a double-digit point total. Besides Johnson, Jacob Cook had 13 points, Nelson added 11 points and Jangula finished with 10 points and six boards.

Noah Christensen helped the Cobbers outrebound SJU 33-28 by grabbing seven rebounds.

UP NEXT: Concordia will continue its playoff push when they host third-place Gustavus on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7:45 p.m.