More Memorial Magic

Moorhead, Minn. (1/26/13)— Concordia continued their Memorial Auditorium Magic by cruising past Augsburg 88-68. The Cobbers shot 62.7% from the field and 45.5% from 3-point range as they remain unbeaten against MIAC opponents at home in 2012-13.

"We've shot the ball really well at home the past number of games," commented head coach Rich Glas. "That has to continue and hopefully we can carry that over when we go on the road."  

Less than one week after the Cobbers knocked off No.1-ranked St. Thomas, Concordia lit up the afternoon in recording a win over the second-place team in the conference. CC is now 7-0 in Memorial Auditorium this season.


Audio interview with Cobber head coach Rich Glas (2:17)



With the win, Concordia improves to 12-7 in all games and 9-5 in league play. The victory keeps the Cobbers ahead of a pack of three teams which are all vying for third place. CC is now just one game behind the second-place Auggies. Augsburg loses for the first time in four games and is now 15-4 overall and 10-4 in league play.     
  
Concordia led for all but the first 2:21 of the first half. The Cobbers made eight straight shots in a five-minute period in the opening period to turn a tie game at 2-2 into the beginning of a double-digit victory.

The Cobbers set the tone for the game by shooting 65.6% (21-for-32) from the floor in the opening half. Concordia had four players who were perfect from the field in the first half and had two others miss just one shot. The six CC sharpshooters went a combined 16-for-18 in the first 20 minutes of play. In addition to their near-perfect shooting start, the Cobbers held a decided 19-9 edge in rebounding in the first half.

Concordia never let up on the gas pedal in the second half and led by at least 20 points for the final 7:18 of the game.

The Cobbers finished the game by making 37 of their 59 field goal attempts and 10 of their 22 shots from behind the arc. Concordia also outrebounded the Auggies 38-20 and held a 20-11 edge in second chance points. Those 20 second-chance points came at opportune times when the Auggies tried to start a couple of comeback runs.

Brandon Fisher and Andrew Martinson were the leaders of Concordia's on-fire shooting attack. The two combined to go 14-for-19 from the floor and score 37 points.  Fisher was 7-for-8 from the field, 3-for-4 from 3-point range and had 19 points while Martinson went 7-for-11 from the floor, 4-for-7 from outside the arc and added 18 points. Fisher also had a career-high six assists. Martinson has now scored in double figures in 11 of the 18 games he has played in this season.  

"The guys on the team realize when A-Mart (Andrew Martinson) gets hot they want to see him make shots," said Glas. "He does a good job moving without the ball and the guys are looking to screen for him."
Center Jason Huus and Aaron Lindahl also factored in double figures in scoring. Huus had 12 points and 11 rebounds to earn his second double-double of the season.

Concordia also came away with a season-high 26 assists as they routinely made the extra pass to find the open man in the half-court offense. A trio of CC players had six assists each. In addition to six from Fisher, Dewon McKenzie and Ebo Nana-Kweson also added six helpers.  Nana-Kweson had the best all-around night as he came within a point, a rebound and four assists from a triple-double. He finished with nine points, nine rebounds and six helpers.

Concordia will look to continue their Memorial Magic when they host St. Olaf on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 7:45 p.m.