Keith Eckhoff continued his ascent on claiming stake to one of the top players in the league. Eckhoff finished with a career-high 28 points. He went 16-for-16 from the free throw line which sets a new league, and school, record. He made all 14
free throw attempts in the second half and has now made his last 28 free throw attempts. His last miss was against St. John's on January 28. In the past three games he has averaged 19 points.
The victory moves Concordia into third place in the MIAC, a half a game ahead of Carleton who lost at Macalester. The Cobbers are now 10-5 in league play and their magic number to clinch a league playoff spot is down to three. Any combination of three wins by Concordia or losses by St.
John's, and the Cobbers will return to the MIAC postseason for the firs time since the 2000-01 season. Concordia improves to 13-6, the most wins by a Concordia men's team since the '00-01 campaign. Bethel slides out of a tie for fourth and drops to 9-6 in the conference and 14-6
overall.
Concordia won the game in the first half by shooting 76.0% (19-for-25) and speeding to a 48-29 halftime lead. The Cobbers continually found open shots behind the Bethel interior defense. When the Cobber offense wasn't generating open looks under the basket, the Cobbers were knocking down 3-point shots. In the first 20 minuts, Concordia was 5-of-8 from behind the arc.
In the second half, Bethel was able to slowly whittle away at the lead. They trimmed the margin to 13 points with 9:12 left to play in the game, and then exploded on a 16-7 run to cut the lead to 79-71 with 2:27 remaining. Concordia stemmed the tide on a pair of Eckhoff free throws and then
held on in the final two minutes to come away with the eight-point victory. The 93 total points is the most scored in a conference game by the Cobbers since the 1995-96 season when they also scored 93 points against Bethel.
The Cobbers had five players, and four of the five starters, score in double figures. In addition to Eckhoff's game-high 28 points, Josh Downey scored 17 points, Joe Bueckers added 13, Soren Nelson chipped in 11 and Nate Ohme scored 10. Nelson also hauled down a game-high six rebounds. Bethel's Travis Jones led all scorers, as he poured in 27 points and five 3-point shots.
Concordia will continue their seven day, four game tour by playing at St. Thomas on Wednesday, February 4 at 7:30pm. They will then host Carleton on Saturday, February 7 at 3:00pm before finishing their stretch drive on Monday, February 9 at 7:30pm at St. Mary's. All three games
can be heard live on KVOX 1280AM in the Fargo-Moorhead area and worldwide over the internet at www.gocobbers.com
Newspaper Box Score Bethel College vs Concordia College 02/02/04 7:30 at Concordia College, Moorhead MN At Concordia College, Moorhead MN CONCORDIA COLLEGE 93, BETHEL COLLEGE 85 BETHEL COLLEGE (14-6, 9-6 MIAC) Travis Jones 8-16 6-8 27; John Jacobs 9-17 1-4 19; Tim Gilbert 5-13 2-2 15; Tyson Bjorklund 4-10 0-2 11; Erik Leafblad 2-3 0-0 5; Isaac Hinrichs 2-2 0-0 4; Andy Cook 1-1 0-1 2; Charles Meadowcroft 1-1 0-0 2; Wade Blazejak 0-1 0-0 0; Trent Perry 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 32-66 9-17 85. CONCORDIA COLLEGE (13-6, 10-5 MIAC) Keith Eckhoff 5-7 16-16 28; Josh Downey 6-10 2-2 17; Joe Bueckers 4-6 4-4 13; Soren Nelson 5-9 1-1 11; Nathan Ohme 3-3 2-2 10; Jason Miller 3-4 0-0 6; Chris Wermerson 2-5 0-0 4; Mark Dixon 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 30-47 25-25 93. Bethel College................ 29 56 - 85 Concordia College............. 48 45 - 93 3-point goals-Bethel College 12-32 (Travis Jones 5-11; Tyson Bjorklund 3-8; Tim Gilbert 3-9; Erik Leafblad 1-2; Trent Perry 0-2), Concordia College 8-16 (Josh Downey 3-5; Keith Eckhoff 2-3; Nathan Ohme 2-2; Joe Bueckers 1-2; Mark Dixon 0-1; Soren Nelson 0-3). Fouled out--Bethel College-Trent Perry, Concordia College-Chris Wermerson. Rebounds-Bethel College 26 (John Jacobs 6), Concordia College 27 (Soren Nelson 6; Mark Dixon 6). Assists-Bethel College 13 (Tim Gilbert 3; Tyson Bjorklund 3; John Jacobs 3), Concordia College 19 (Nathan Ohme 7). Total fouls-Bethel College 21, Concordia College 17. A-384