News Release

MOORHEAD, Minn. — With 10 minutes to go in the game, Concordia led by 17 and everything seemed to be in place for the Cobbers to cruise to their fifth straight home victory. In the next seven minutes, St. Mary's crawled their way out the abyss of a double-digit loss and cut the lead to four points with 2:54 left to play. Concordia then rallied to outscore the Cardinals 6-0 in the ensuing two minutes and hung on for an 84-79 win.

The victory pushes Concordia into a three-way tie for fourth place in the MIAC. The Cobbers are now 6-5 in league play and an even 8-8 overall. Concordia will play two more games in the next three days as they cap a string of four games in seven days. The ever-improving Cardinals have their one-game win streak halted and drop to 2-9 in the conference and 3-13 overall.

For the seventh time in the past nine games Concordia was led by Keith Eckoff (Jr., Alexandria, Minn.). The Big Easy poured in 24 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds to record his first double-double of the year. Eckhoff scored half of his points at the free throw line as went 12-of-14 from the foul stripe. Concordia is now 4-0 in the MIAC when Eckhoff has attempted at least 10 foul shots. He was part of a quartet of Cobber players that all scored in double figures.

Eckhoff's high-scoring partner in crime, Soren Nelson, finished with 12 points and went 7-of-8 from the line. He also solidified the middle of the Cobber defense and made one "highlight reel" block in the second half. Junior post player Jason Miller turned in his usual high shooting percentage from the field, double digit outing. He went 5-of-7 from the floor and finished with 11 points. He currently leads the MIAC in field goal percentage (69.6%). Point guard Eric Meichsner broke loose with his highest point production of the season. Left alone by the sagging Cardinal defense, he scored 11 points and dished off five assists. Freshman Brock Citterman, playing in only his second game of the season, came off the bench to score seven points in 10 minutes of play.

Michael Rohr led St. Mary's in scoring for the first time all season. The 6-7, post player finished with 19 points and a team-high five rebounds. Eric Lear went 2-of-3 from 3-point range and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line to add 16 points in the losing effort.

Besides the pivotal two-minute stretch towards the end of the game, the most critical stretch of the 40 minutes was at the end of the first half. After allowing St. Mary's to grab their only lead of the game at 22-21 and then extend it to 27-24 with 2:54 remaining in the period, Concordia went on a 15-0 run to finished the half and claim a 39-27 lead at the break.

The second half was chopped up by physical play and a boatload of free throw attempts. The two teams combined for 34 fouls and 51 foul shots. The Cardinals took 21 free throw shots in the final 20 minutes and converted on 16 attempts. The finished the game 19-of-25 (76.0%) from the line. The Cobbers shot an incredible 30 free throws in the second half, making 23. In the second half, Concordia converted on more free throw attempts (23) than they attempted field goals (19). The Cobbers also finished the game with more made free throws (33) than St. Mary's had free throw attempts. The 33 successful free throw sets a school record for most made free throws in a single contest. The old mark of 31 was set last season against Macalester on January 31.

For the game, Concordia shot 57.5% (23-of-40) from the floor, while the Cardinals made 26-of-60 (43.3%) attempts.

Concordia will turn around and host St. John's on Monday, January 24 at 7:30pm in a game that was originally scheduled for Saturday, January 22 but was postponed due to adverse driving conditions. The Cobbers will then play defending MIAC champion, and league nemesis, Gustavus on Wednesday at 7:30pm in Memorial Auditorium. Concordia will finish their four-game deluge when they host St. Olaf on Saturday, January 29 at 3:00pm. All three 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
St. Mary's University vs Concordia College
01/23/05 3:00 at Moorhead, MN/ Memorial Auditorium
At Moorhead, MN/ Memorial Auditorium
CONCORDIA COLLEGE 84, ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY 79
ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY (2-9 MIAC/3-13)
Michael Rohr 6-8 5-6 19; Eric Lear 4-8 6-6 16; Dan Kloak 2-8 5-5 9; Brensley
Haywood 4-9 0-2 8; Fiore Buccieri 3-7 0-0 8; Jeff Tendall 2-11 1-2 6;
Michael Batterman 2-4 0-0 4; Jason Washington 1-1 2-4 4; John Gencius 1-1
0-0 3; Dan Cormier 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 26-60 19-25 79.
CONCORDIA COLLEGE (6-5 MIAC/8-8)
Keith Eckhoff 5-8 12-14 24; Soren Nelson 2-8 7-8 12; Eric Meichsner 3-3 3-4
11; Jason Miller 5-7 1-1 11; Ryan Templeton 2-4 4-7 8; Brock Citterman 3-5
1-3 7; E.J. Adams 1-2 4-8 6; Luke Linz 2-3 1-1 5. Totals 23-40 33-47 84.
St. Mary's University.........   27   52  -   79
Concordia College.............   39   45  -   84
3-point goals-St. Mary's University 8-21 (Eric Lear 2-3; Fiore Buccieri 2-5;
Michael Rohr 2-2; Jeff Tendall 1-6; John Gencius 1-1; Dan Cormier 0-1;
Brensley Haywood 0-3), Concordia College 5-14 (Keith Eckhoff 2-5; Eric
Meichsner 2-2; Soren Nelson 1-4; Brock Citterman 0-1; Ryan Templeton 0-2).
Fouled out--St. Mary's University-Michael Rohr; Jason Washington; Jeff
Tendall, Concordia College-None. Rebounds-St. Mary's University 25 (Jason
Washington 5), Concordia College 29 (Keith Eckhoff 10). Assists-St. Mary's
University 19 (Fiore Buccieri 7), Concordia College 16 (Eric Meichsner 5).
Total fouls-St. Mary's University 31, Concordia College 19. A-365