The victory closes out the first half of the MIAC season for the Cobbers. Concordia jumps into a three-way tie for fifth place in the conference with a 5-5 mark. The Cobbers crawl to within one game of the .500 plateau as they are now 7-8 overall. Hamline loses for the second straight game and slides to 3-7 in the MIAC and 5-10 overall.
Four of the five Concordia starting players scored at least 12 points and shot a combined 57.1% from the field. The Pipers tried to take Eckhoff, the league's leading scorer, from getting an open look at the basket and in the process left All-MIAC post player Soren Nelson alone to carve up the Piper defense from inside and out. Nelson finished with a game-high 18 points and collected a game-high eight rebounds.
The Pipers were also unable to stop the inside presence of Mark Dixon, who routinely drove to the basket and was able to score from the inside. He finished with 15 points.
Eckhoff had to pick his spots to score and finished with 15 points. The heightened defensive presence on Eckhoff helped him dish off a career-high six assists. Jason Miller was the final member of the killer quartet. Miller, second in the MIAC in field goal percentage, went 6-of-9 from the floor and finished with 12 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds, as the Cobbers outrebounded Hamline 36-25.
Brandon Aukes was the only Hamline player with more than nine points. Aukes ended the game with 16 points and five rebounds.
Points off of turnovers and baskets from inside the lane proved to be the undoing of the Pipers. Concordia turned 20 Piper miscues into 30 points. The Cobbers also held a 34-18 margin from points scored inside the "paint".
As a team, Concordia shot 56.3% (27-of-48) from the floor and 73.9% (17-of-23) from the free throw line. Hamline shot 38.3% (23-of-60) from the floor, but could not find the range from the outside and were unable to get to the free throw line. The Pipers finished the game by making only six of their 21 3-point shots (28.6%). They only went to the line nine times in the game as compared to 23 for the Cobbers. Hamline connected on five of those nine attempts.
Concordia will now play a rare back-to-back home doubleheader. On Saturday, January 22 the Cobbers will host St. John's at 3:00pm. They will then play St. Mary's on Sunday, January 23 at 3:00pm. Both games 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 Hamline University vs Concordia College 01/19/05 7:30 at Moorhead, MN/Memorial Auditorium At Moorhead, MN/Memorial Auditorium CONCORDIA COLLEGE 74, HAMLINE UNIVERSITY 57 HAMLINE UNIVERSITY (3-6 MIAC/5-10) Brandon Aukes 5-10 5-6 16; Jesse Hendricks 4-9 0-0 9; Ryan Montgomery 3-6 0-3 8; Charley Good 2-8 0-0 4; Sam Wiener 2-6 0-0 4; Ayan Hargrove 2-4 0-0 4; Greg Koba 1-4 0-0 3; Paul Muenchow 1-3 0-0 3; Kyle Foster 1-3 0-0 2; Adam Hakanson 1-3 0-0 2; Kory Kelzer 1-2 0-0 2; Nick Novak 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-60 5-9 57. CONCORDIA COLLEGE (5-5 MIAC/7-8) Soren Nelson 6-11 5-6 18; Keith Eckhoff 6-10 2-3 15; Mark Dixon 6-11 2-2 15; Jason Miller 6-9 0-0 12; Luke Linz 1-1 3-4 5; E.J. Adams 1-2 2-2 4; Eric Meichsner 1-3 2-4 4; Brock Citterman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-48 17-23 74. Hamline University............ 33 24 - 57 Concordia College............. 39 35 - 74 3-point goals-Hamline University 6-21 (Ryan Montgomery 2-4; Jesse Hendricks 1-3; Paul Muenchow 1-2; Brandon Aukes 1-3; Greg Koba 1-2; Nick Novak 0-2; Ayan Hargrove 0-2; Sam Wiener 0-3), Concordia College 3-11 (Keith Eckhoff 1-4; Mark Dixon 1-2; Soren Nelson 1-3; Eric Meichsner 0-1; Brock Citterman 0-1). Fouled out--Hamline University-None, Concordia College-None. Rebounds-Hamline University 25 (Charley Good 6; Kyle Foster 6), Concordia College 36 (Jason Miller 8; Soren Nelson 8). Assists-Hamline University 11 (Sam Wiener 2; Ayan Hargrove 2; Ryan Montgomery 2), Concordia College 17 (Keith Eckhoff 6). Total fouls-Hamline University 20, Concordia College 13.