.
The Cobbers are now 11-8 in the MIAC and 13-10 overall. They can finish no worse than fifth place in the MIAC. St. Thomas locks up the second spot in the playoffs. The Tommies loss, coupled with Gustavus' victory over Macalester, gives the Gusties their second consecutive conference crown. St. Thomas also sees their five-game winning streak come to a halt. They are now 16-4 in league play and 16-8 overall.
Eckhoff scored nine points in the final 3:11 of the game to push Concordia to their third straight victory over the Tommies in Memorial Auditorium. He finished the game with 21 points, including 10 from the free throw line. Eckhoff was a perfect 10-of-10 from the line, and made four key shots from the free throw line in the final minutes of the game. His 10 straight free throws in a single game marks the second time in his career that he has not missed a free throw in at least 10 attempts. Last season he went 16-of-16 against Bethel. Eckoff also finished the game with a team-high, seven rebounds.
The game was a back-and-forth affair with neither team holding more than a five-point lead until the very end of the game. There were 15 lead changes in the game and the score was tied on eight different occasions.
The deciding stretch of the game occurred at the very end when St. Thomas failed to convert on the front end of a one-and-one situation that would have cut into the 62-60 Cobber lead with 1:22 remaining in the game. Instead, the Cobbers grabbed the rebound and Soren Nelson was fouled on a successful layup attempt. His ensuing free throw gave Concordia a 65-60 lead and enabled the Cobbers to withstand a last-minute charge from the Tommies. Concordia's final four points of the game all came from Eckhoff's free throw attempts. St. Thomas was only able to connect on 1-of-3 3-point shots in the final minute of play and the game ended with a six-point margin.
Besides Eckhoff's game-high 21 points, Soren Nelson and Mark Dixon also factored in double figures for the Cobbers. Nelson, playing in his last regular-season game in Memorial Auditorium, finished with 16 points and three rebounds and gave Concordia a much-needed inside scoring threat. Dixon, still recovering from an injury, went 4-of-5 from the floor, 2-of-3 from behind the arc and netted 10 points - his most in a game since February 2 when Concordia beat Macalester.
Freshman point guard Eric Meichsner netted seven points and had five assists. Anthony Boike, newly inserted as the team's backup point guard, had two assists in 10 minutes of play. Between the two rookie guards, they had seven assists and only turned the ball over two times. Jason Miller, not known for his scoring ability from outside the arc, knocked down his first 3-point shot of the season and added five points in the winning cause.
Of the 10 players that played for Concordia against St. Thomas, five were freshmen. At one time in the game, Concordia had four freshman on the floor against the second-place Tommies.
St. Thomas had two players score in double figures. Cobber killer Bryan Schnettler had a team-high 19 points and was 5-of-10 from behind the arc. Schnettler has now torched Concordia for 42 points in the two meetings this season. he has also knocked down 11 shots from long-range. Neal Anderson had another prototypical game. He finished with 10 points and did not collect a rebound. He was one of only two of the 20 players that played in the game that did not record a rebound. Anderson has scored in double figures in 20 of the team's 24 games and is averaging 1.5 rebounds per game.
Concordia shot 50.0% (24-of-48) from the floor for the game. The Cobbers have shot at least 50.0% from the floor in each of their past seven wins. Overall this season, Concordia is 11-4 when shooting at least 50.0% from the field. The Cobbers also shot 87.5% (14-of-16) from the free throw line, marking the 17th time this season they have shot at least 70.)% from the foul line as a team. St. Thomas shot a consistent 42.9% (24-of-56) from the field and only 57.1% (8-of-14) from the free throw line.
Concordia will finish off the regular season by playing at Hamline on Saturday, February 19 at 3:00pm. If the Cobbers win the game against the Pipers and Bethel loses at Carleton, then Concordia will host the Royals on Tuesday, February 22 at 7:30pm. If the Cobbers lose or both teams win, then Concordia will play at Bethel on the same night and time. Both the game on Saturday and the first round playoff game on Tuesday can be heard live on 1280AM "The Fan" radio in the Fargo-Moorhead area and via the internet at www.gocobbers.com.
Newspaper Box Score University of St. Thomas vs Concordia College 02/16/05 7:30 at Moorhead, MN/Memorial Auditorium At Moorhead, MN/Memorial Auditorium CONCORDIA COLLEGE 69, UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS 63 UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS (16-4 MIAC/16-8) Bryan Schnettler 7-13 0-0 19; Neal Anderson 3-9 4-4 10; Isaac Rosefelt 4-11 1-4 9; Danny Peterson 4-8 0-0 8; Joey Shimek 3-6 2-3 8; Sean Sweeney 2-8 0-0 6; Nate Worrell 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 24-56 8-14 63. CONCORDIA COLLEGE (11-8 MIAC/13-11) Keith Eckhoff 5-12 10-10 21; Soren Nelson 6-9 3-4 16; Mark Dixon 4-5 0-0 10; Eric Meichsner 3-6 0-0 7; Jason Miller 2-5 0-0 5; Brock Citterman 1-2 0-0 3; Luke Linz 1-4 1-2 3; Anthony Boike 1-1 0-0 2; Ryan Templeton 1-3 0-0 2; E.J. Adams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-48 14-16 69. University of St. Thomas...... 28 35 - 63 Concordia College............. 31 38 - 69 3-point goals-University of St. Thomas 7-24 (Bryan Schnettler 5-10; Sean Sweeney 2-7; Danny Peterson 0-1; Joey Shimek 0-1; Neal Anderson 0-5), Concordia College 7-16 (Mark Dixon 2-3; Brock Citterman 1-2; Keith Eckhoff 1-3; Eric Meichsner 1-3; Jason Miller 1-1; Soren Nelson 1-3; Ryan Templeton 0-1). Fouled out--University of St. Thomas-Joey Shimek, Concordia College-None. Rebounds-University of St. Thomas 28 (Isaac Rosefelt 8; Joey Shimek 8), Concordia College 25 (Keith Eckhoff 7). Assists-University of St. Thomas 16 (Sean Sweeney 5), Concordia College 18 (Keith Eckhoff 6). Total fouls-University of St. Thomas 19, Concordia College 15. A-503