Shooting Sights Are Off In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (2/20/24)---Concordia shot under 33.0% from the field and 3-point range and lost 73-55 at Hamline in the quarterfinals of the MIAC Tournament.

The Cobbers' cold shooting touch, combined with the Pipers' advantage in rebounding and points in the paint sent Concordia to their eighth straight playoff defeat.

Concordia finishes its season at 16-10 while Hamline ups its mark to a similar 16-10 record and will face St. John's in semifinals of the MIAC playoffs.

The Cobbers had a pair of leads in the game. The first one came after opening possession of the first half when Rowan Nelson knocked down a 3-pointer to put CC up 3-2. Nelson would then sink a pair of free throws to give Concordia a 7-6 edge at the 16:30 mark of the first period.

Senior Jackson Jangula drained a shot from distance at 15:22 and that would be the last time the Cobbers were even with Hamline. The Pipers went on a 14-4 run over the next 6 minutes of play to take a double-digit lead at 24-14 and then ended the opening half by scoring nine of the final 12 points to take a 40-26 lead into the break.

Concordia was able to cut the lead to single digits with a Jacob Cook layup in the first 4 minutes of the second half, but the Pipers were able to answer with a 13-6 stretch and put the game out of reach at 15 points with just over 9 minutes to play.

The Cobbers shot 32.1% (17-for-53) from the floor, 20.0% (4-for-20) from outside the arc and 70.8% (17-for-24) from the free throw line. It's only the second in 2024 that CC shot under 33.3% from the floor and the third time they failed to shoot above 20.0% from distance.

Hamline connected on 49.1% (26-for-53) of their attempts from the floor and 27.3% (6-for-22) of their shots from distance.

The Pipers held a 36-31 edge in rebounds and a 30-26 advantage in points in the paint.

Nelson led all players with 17 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season.

Matt Johnson was the only other Concordia player with more than eight points in the game. He scored 13 points and reached the 1,000-point mark for his career with a 3-pointer at the 6:07 mark of the first half. Johnson scored 184 points at the University of Mary in his first two seasons of college basketball. He had 826 with the Cobbers in two years and finished with 1,010 points.

Cook contributed points and nine rebounds.