Everything Adds Up In High-Scoring Win Over Carleton

MOORHEAD, Minn. (01/06/24)---Everything added up for Concordia in its 10-point win over defending MIAC champion Carleton.

The Cobbers shot the ball better from the floor, had a higher 3-point shooting percentage and posted a +6 rebounding advantage against the top rebounding team in the conference.

Add everything up, and you get a 93-83 win for Concordia in its first home game in almost a month.

The win is the first for the Cobbers against the Knights since 2019. It also stops a 4-game losing slide for CC.

The 93 points scored by Concordia are the most in a single game for the season and most since they dropped a honey bee on Macalester on Jan. 27, 2018.  

Concordia is now 8-4 on the year and owns a 4-3 mark in MIAC play. CC is now in a 4-way tie for third place in the league standings. Carleton is one of the other teams in the third-place logjam. They are a similar 4-3 against conference opponents. The Knights, who had won five of their past six games, are 7-5 overall.

Concordia started slowly, gave up the game's first five points and trailed for the first half of the opening period. The Cobbers finally caught Carleton when they went on a 9-2 run, capped by a Jacob Cook layup that tied the score at 15-15 with 12:09 left in the half.

The following 4 minutes featured three tie scores and five lead changes. A 21-11 run by Concordia turned the game in the Cobbers' favor. CC grabbed a double-digit lead when Zach Jackson broke free under the basket and converted the layup to put the Cobbers up 47-37 with 3:13 left in the period.

Concordia held a 7-point lead at the break, scored 10 of the first 12 points in the second half and never trailed for the final 20 minutes of playing in recording the double-digit win.

Carleton was able to cut the lead to three points with 5:34 to play, but a mid-range jumper from Rowan Nelson and a layup from Cook restored the CC order and paved the way toward the win.

The Cobbers shot a season-best 58.6% (34-for-58) from the floor and 40.0% (10-for-25) from 3-point range. It's the third straight game CC has shot above 50.0% from the floor. Concordia is averaging 86.3 points per game during that stretch.

In a return to sanity, both teams were within 10 free throws of one another. CC was 15-for-20 from the foul line, and the Knights went 21-for-27.

Concordia held a 32-26 advantage in rebounding. The 26 rebounds by Carleton is their lowest total of the season. CC also enjoyed a 36-26 edge in points in the paint.

Sophomore post player Jackson Loge proved his 27-point at Crown on Dec. 30 was no fluke as he equaled that total against the Knights. He came off the bench to go 11-for-14 from the floor. He also grabbed six boards and had a monster dunk in the second half.

In the last three games, Loge has upped his season scoring average to 14.0 ppg. He is second on the team in scoring and 15th in the MIAC.

Nelson was 5-for-8 from the floor, 3-for-5 from distance and finished with 15 points. He also added a game-high eight rebounds.

Senior guard Matt Johnson also put down 15 points to go with a game-high four assists.

Cook gave Concordia four players with a double-digit scoring total. He had 10 points and hauled down seven rebounds.               
 
UP NEXT:  Concordia will begin a 2-game road trip when they play at St. Olaf on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 7:15 p.m. The Oles are one game underneath the 3rd-place pile up at 3-4. They are 4-8 overall and coming off an 89-74 loss to league-leading St. John's at home.