face Macalester on Thursday, February 26 at 7:30pm in St. Paul.
The victory gives Concordia 18 wins on the season and improves their overall record to 18-7. It is the third highest win total in school history. The win also pushes the Cobbers into the MIAC semifinal round for only the third time in school history. The last time Concordia went to the conference semifinals was during the 2000-01 season. The loss ends the season for the Tommies and drops their final record to 11-15. It is the first time since the 1979-80 season that they have finished below the .500 mark.
Four different players scored at least 13 points for the Cobbers. Josh Downey and Soren Nelson each had 18 points, while Keith Eckhoff added 14 and Jason Miller contributed 13. Downey finished the game by shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 2-of-4 from behind the 3-point line. Miller grabbed a team-high six rebounds, as the Cobbers outrebounded St. Thomas 26-23.
Danny Peterson led all St. Thomas scorers with 17 points. Nick Schader had 13 points and collected a game-high nine rebounds. Neal Anderson, the league's leader in 3-point field goals, finished with 12 points on a 3-of-7 shooting night from 3-point range.
St. Thomas came out, grabbed the early lead and jumped to an 11-5 lead before Concordia was able to finally find their offensive rhythm. The Cobbers trailed for almost the entire first period, and only took the lead in the final seconds when Nelson hit an off-balance, falling away from the basket jump shot. The circus-like shot gave Concordia a 29-28 lead at the break.
The momentum from the last second shot carried into the second half, as Concordia quickly built a nine point lead at 44-35. St. Thomas countered with a 9-2 run of their own and cut the margin to two at 46-44. The Cobbers then retaliated by going on a 9-3 run to push the lead back
to eight points. The Tommies rallied one final time and trimmed the deficit to 57-55 with 5:49 left to go in the game. Concordia finally shook off St. Thomas when Eckhoff and Downey hit back-to-back 3-point shots and Nelson followed up with a layup to push the Cobbers to their first
double-digit lead of the game at 65-55 with 2:44 remaining.
The Tommies were never able to recover from the final assault and had the final margin of victory pushed to 13 points when the Cobbers connected on the final seven free throw in the game.
Despite making nine of their last 10 foul shots, the Cobbers were below their season average of 76.7% from the free throw line. Concordia finished the game by shooting 75.0% (18-for-24) from the free throw line. However, the Cobbers were above their season average from the floor, as they shot 56.6% (26-for-46) from the field. St. Thomas finished the game by shooting 49% (24-for-49) from the field and 66.7% (10-for-15) from the free throw line. The Tommies did not hit on a single 3-point shot in the second half (0-for-4) and ended the game by shooting just 27.3% (3-for-11) from beyond the arc.
The Cobbers held a decisive advantage in points from non-starters. The Concordia bench outscored their counterparts 27-2, as the only non-starter to score for the Tommies was Nate Worrell.
Concordia will continue their playoff trek when they face Macalester in the MIAC semifinals on Thursday, February 26 at 7:30 in St. Paul. The game can be heard live on KVOX 1280AM in the Fargo-Moorhead area and worldwide over the internet at www.gocobbers.com. The winner of that game will face the winner of the Gustavus/Bethel matchup on Saturday, February 28 for the MIAC championship and the automatic berth into the MIAC playoffs.
University of St. Thomas vs Concordia College 02/24/04 7:30 at Memorial Auditorium At Memorial Auditorium CONCORDIA COLLEGE 74, UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS 61 UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS (11-15) Danny Peterson 7-10 3-4 17; Nick Schader 5-7 3-4 13; Neal Anderson 4-8 1-1 12; Alex Weaver 4-11 2-4 10; Joey Shimek 3-10 1-2 7; Nate Worrell 1-2 0-0 2; Mike Dahlstrom 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-49 10-15 61. CONCORDIA COLLEGE (18-7) Soren Nelson 6-12 6-11 18; Josh Downey 8-12 0-0 18; Keith Eckhoff 3-3 7-8 14; Jason Miller 6-10 1-1 13; Joe Bueckers 2-3 2-2 7; Nathan Ohme 1-3 0-0 2; Chris Wermerson 0-1 2-2 2; Ryan Templeton 0-1 0-0 0; Mark Dixon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-46 18-24 74. University of St. Thomas...... 28 33 - 61 Concordia College............. 29 45 - 74 3-point goals-University of St. Thomas 3-11 (Neal Anderson 3-7; Alex Weaver 0-2; Joey Shimek 0-1; Mike Dahlstrom 0-1), Concordia College 4-11 (Josh Downey 2-4; Keith Eckhoff 1-1; Joe Bueckers 1-1; Nathan Ohme 0-2; Soren Nelson 0-3). Fouled out--University of St. Thomas-Joey Shimek, Concordia College-None. Rebounds-University of St. Thomas 23 (Nick Schader 9), Concordia College 26 (Jason Miller 6). Assists-University of St. Thomas 11 (Nick Schader 4), Concordia College 14 (Joe Bueckers 6). Total fouls-University of St. Thomas 20, Concordia College 15. A-475 First Round of the 2004 MIAC Playoffs The Cobbers advance to play at Macalester on Thursday at 7:30