Adam Denny had 17 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 2 seed Macalester (18-8) past No. 3 Concordia 79-65 Thursday night in St. Paul in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) semi-final game.
The Scots now will play Saturday (Feb. 28) at Gustavus at 7:30 for the MIAC playoff title and the league's automatic bid in the upcoming NCAA Division III playoffs. The Gusties beat Bethel 76-59 Thursday night in St. Peter in the other MIAC semi-final contest.
Denny went 6-for-7 from the field and also contributed three assists and a couple steals. He led five Macalester scorers in double figures. Brendan Bosman and Erik Jackson added 14 points apiece, Chris Assel scored 13, and Wes McFarland had 10.
Josh Downey scored 20 points to pace Concordia (18-8) and Keith Eckhoff came off the bench to add 19. Soren Nelson contributed 11.
Macalester held the Cobbers to 27% shooting (6-for-22) in the first half to open up a 33-27 halftime advantage. Mac's lead was slim for most the of the second half before an 8-1 Scot run between 7:23 and 5:30 made the advantage 10 points at 60-50. The Cobbers chipped away to get within six points at 66-60 with 2:57 to go, but Macalester out-scored the visitors 13-5 the rest of the way.