Offensive Progress Shown At St. John's

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (12/04/21)---Fans can file Concordia's 87-76 loss to reigning MIAC champion St. John's in the "progress shown" folder.

The Cobbers knocked down 31 field goals, posted a 54.4% field goal percentage and shot 44.4% from 3-point range against the Johnnies. All three marks are season bests for Concordia. Add the fact that that the 76 points scored is the most for CC - and you have the best offensive output of the year for a team that started four freshmen.

Concordia (2-4, 1-2 MIAC) trailed early in the first half, but went on a 9-0 run starting at the 13:33 mark and grabbed a 3-point lead when freshman Rowan Nelson made a layup at the 12:20 mark.

St. John's (6-2, 3-0 MIAC) countered with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 16-16, and then CC scored eight of the next 11 points to take their largest lead of the game at 24-19. The game would stay within three points until the final 1:30 of the opening half when the Johnnies scored the final six points in the period to take a 40-33 lead into the break.

The Johnnies scored the first seven points after halftime to push the score to 47-33. The Cobbers would slowly push back and cut the deficit to six points with 8:42 left in regulation, but then a 7-0 run by SJU pushed the margin back to double digits.   

The two teams played practically even in the second half. Concordia was able to outscore SJU 43-40 in the final 18:30 of play.

Nelson led all players with 25 points. He scored 17 of his game-high point total in the second half when he went 7-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-1 from distance. Nelson also tied for the team lead in rebounds with six.

Dylan Inniger and Talon Hoffer were the other two Cobbers players with more than 10 points. Inniger went 3-for-6 from outside the arc and finished with 13 points. Hoffer was 5-for-6 from the floor, posted a season-high 12 points and also put up six rebounds.

Junior guard Jackson Jangula had a season-high five assists and came up with a pair of steals.

UP NEXT: Concordia will stay on the road for the final two conference games of 2021. The Cobbers will play at Bethel on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 7:45 p.m. The Royals are 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the MIAC.