A Second Straight Stumble In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (1/14/17)--- For the second straight Saturday in St. Paul Concordia couldn't overcome a cold shooting afternoon and fell 90-58 at St. Thomas.

The Cobbers are 4-2 in their last six games with both losses coming in St. Paul on Saturdays. Last week CC shot 38.6% from the floor and fell at Hamline and on Saturday Concordia connected on a season-low 37.5% (18-for-48) of their shots from the field and lost to the defending national champions.

The loss drops Concordia's record to 7-6 on the year and CC is now .500 (4-4) in MIAC play. St. Thomas wins for the sixth time in the last seven games and is now 10-4 in all games and 6-3 in the MIAC.

The Cobbers never led in the game as they started the game by making only one field goal in the first 7:56 of play. Despite the icy start, CC only trailed by three points at 13-10 with 12:03 left in the opening half of play.

Concordia followed their 1-for-6 start with an 0-for-7 stretch and trailed by 18 points at 28-10 with 7:44 left to play.

The Cobbers went 8-for-23 (34.8%) from the floor in the first half and connected on three of their nine shots from outside the arc.

CC stayed within 16 points for the first couple of minutes of the second half but then an 11-0 run by St. Thomas put the game out of reach.

Concordia finished the game by shooting 37.5% from the floor and 27.8% (5-for-18) from outside the arc. The Tommies made 53.2% (33-for-62) of their attempts from the floor and 45.5% (10-for-22) of their shots from 3-point land.

UST held a 38-30 edge in rebounding and hade eight fewer turnovers than the Cobbers. The Tommies outscored Concordia 38-20 in points in the paint and held a 20-10 edge in second-chance points.

Senior Austin Nelson was the only Concordia player with more than 13 points in the game. He went 4--for-9 from the floor and finished with 13 points. The other four CC starters combined to score 16 points.    
    
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will be hoping the friendly confines of Memorial Auditorium will warm their shooting touch. The Cobbers host Macalester on Monday, Jan. 16, Bethel on Wednesday, Jan. 18 and St. Mary's on Saturday, Jan. 21. CC is 4-1 at home this season and is shooting 50.5% and averaging 78.6 ppg. Macalester is 4-9 overall and 0-8 in league play and coming off a 92-83 loss at home against Hamline on Saturday.