Upperclassmen Celebrate Senior Day With Win

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/21/15)—Concordia hosted the annual Senior Celebration Day and the five seniors responded by helping the Cobbers finish out the regular season with an 82-80 win over Augsburg.

Jordan Deutsch, Scott Flotterud, Brandon Giese, Ryan Rude and Aaron Zimmer all had a hand in the two-point win over the Auggies which helped Concordia finish in fifth place in the final MIAC standings and earn the No.5 seed for the upcoming conference playoffs.

The Cobbers will enter the postseason with a 15-10 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the MIAC. The 15 overall wins and 11 league victories are the second most since current coach Rich Glas took control of Concordia in 2009.

The game seemed to be well in hand for Concordia for most of the game, but as with the two previous contests, the Cobbers' offense slowed to a halt in the latter stages of the second half. Unlike the losses at Carleton and St. Olaf, CC was able to find a way to get back on track and finish off the victory.  

The Cobbers led for most of the first half and built the lead to 16 points with 9:18 left to play in regulation. That's when the second-half jitters started to reappear for CC and the Auggies proceeded to go on an 8-0 run to cut the lead in half. Concordia still had a double-digit lead with under one minute to play.

Augsburg got the margin down to three points on a trio of occasions but each time Giese stepped to the free throw line and made both foul attempt shots to keep the Cobbers with a two-possession lead. Giese went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 32-second of play to seal the win for Concordia.

Giese saved his best game of the season for his last inside Memorial Auditorium. He finished with a season-high 21 points and was 10-for-12 from the free throw line.

The other four seniors all factored in the score sheet as well. Deutsch played valuable minutes in the first half and had one rebound. Flotterud was tough underneath the basket and had four rebounds. Rude had four rebounds and three points in leading the CC offense while Zilmmer gave the Cobber unexpected point production as he came off the bench to go 3-for-5 from the floor and finish with a season-high eight points.

Concordia wound up shooting 51.9% (27-for-52) from the floor and 37.5% (6-for-16) from outside the arc in the game. The Cobbers held a 39-32 edge in rebounding            

Besides the seniors, juniors Jordan Bolger, Brett Bergeson and Tom Fraase had the biggest impact on the game for the Cobbers. Bolger matched Giese with 21 points and also added nine rebounds. Bergeson and Fraase traded halves of putting up clutch offensive points. Bergeson was on fire from outside the arc in the opening period. He was 3-for-5 from 3-point range and had 12 first-half ponts. He added one more in the second period. Fraase was held off the score sheet in the first half and then responded with 10 second-half points.

Concordia will head into the postseason for the second time in the past three seasons. The Cobbers will head to Arden Hills to take on No.5 seed Bethel in the MIAC quarterfinals on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.