Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: January 20, 2010
Team |
1st Half |
2nd Half |
Final |
 |
35 |
36 |
71 |
 |
29 |
34 |
63 |
Gameday Menu:
Gameday Program: Gameday Program (pdf)
Opponent's Website: St. Thomas Men's Basketball
MIAC Website: MIAC Men's Basketball
MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/20/10)-- Concordia was one run, one player getting hot, one stretch of missed St. Thomas shots from getting past the No.9-ranked Tommies in Moorhead on Monday. Instead, the Cobbers watched their early first-half lead dwindle, were never able to regain their offensive pressure and fell 71-63.
The Cobbers cut the league-leading Tommie lead to three points with 9:34 to play in the second half but then had UST respond with a 9-2 run over the next three minutes and hand Concordia their fourth straight loss. CC was never able to come up with that pivotal run in the final seven minutes as they dropped to 8-8 on the season. The Cobbers are now 4-7 in conference play.
The difference down the stretch was the play of the experienced guard tandem for St. Thomas. Tyler Nicolai and Joe Scott combined for 15 of the team's final 21 points after Concordia had cut the lead to three points. Nicolai finished with a team-high 17 points while Scott added 10 points, six of which came in the final nine minutes of play. The pair were starting their 75th consecutive game and the Tommies are now 67-8 in those games. In addition, Nicolai's 17 points marks the 55th time in his career that he has scored at least seven points in a game. UST is 52-3 when he posts at least seven points in a game. Nicolai has now led the team in scoring in all but two games this season.
John Fraase was a force inside for Concordia. Fraase scored 19 points and came away with 15 rebounds to post his seventh double-double of the season. It is the second straight game he has had at least 10 points and 10 rebounds. Karl Olson and Erik Lien were the only other Cobber players with more than seven points in the game. Olson was 4-for-8 from the floor and finished with 11 points and Lien went 2-for-4 from behind the arc and added 10.
Concordia broke out of their recent shooting slump. The Cobbers shot 46.2% (24-for-52) from the floor and 37.5% (6-for-16) from 3-point range. It was the first time in four games that the team has shot better than 45.0% from the floor.
Concordia outrebounded St. Thomas 29-24 but were pressured into 14 turnovers by the Tommie full-court press. The Tommies turned those turnovers into a 14-6 edge in points off of turnovers and a 16-6 margin in fast break points.
St. Thomas (14-2/10-1 MIAC) shot 55.8% (29-for-52) from the field and 33.3% (6-for-18) from 3-point range. The Tommies showed their championship mettle by connecting on 65.2% (15-for-23) of their shots in the second half when the game hung in the balance.
Concordia will host Gustavus on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 3 p.m.
