The men’s basketball team revels in victory after defeating rival St. Johns
MOORHEAD- a grueling back and forth between Concordia and the visiting rivals from St. Johns Wednesday left the atmosphere in Memorial auditorium several degrees hotter and the johnnies questioning their scoring ability under pressure.
Last week’s tight-knit match was the second meeting this season between the Cobbers and Johnnies. The previous game back in December saw the Johnnies run away with the win 82-65 handing the Cobbers their first season loss and ending a five-game win streak.
Since then, the Cobbers have raked up a record of 13-5 overall with 5-4 in conference wins but if Wednesday’s match was any indication from their play, it was clear the Cobbers hadn’t forgotten their rivals. Safe to assume this was a date every Cobber had mentally circled in red.
“The thing is, is we’ve been stressing now for the last couple of weeks, like, it’s got to mean more to us every day.said Concordia Head Coach Tyler Bormann I think when it means more to you, and then you put the work in, you’re really dangerous team.
Cobbers took the ball off the jump in a half that saw aggressive back-and-forth scoring from both teams, Johnnies took the lead 10-9 after a midrange jumper from the elbow. On the other side of the court Senior Forward Jacob Cook needed no time to react, taking a pull up 3-pointer with a rainbow arc.
On the opposite side of the court, the Johnnies turned the ball over the Cobbers capitalized off this by hitting a loud 3-pointer from freshman Guard Peyton Schell. Only a couple of possessions later would Senior Guard Peyton Belka hit the most impressive shot of the game. driving right, Belka dribbles base-line pulling up for a midrange fade away shot, falling back as the ball makes its descent through the net putting the cobbers up 19-10.
Despite the Cobbers impressive scoring, the Johnnies would start crawling back closing out the half 32-32.
Johnnies came out swinging, making seven points back-to-back.
Belka would respond with a much needed three-pointer but the johnnies countered with a pick-and-roll motion that ended with St. Johns Center Vincent Hillesheim dunking on Schell.
Although never falling too far behind, the Cobbers would trail by 10 or less points for the remainder of the match until a shift in the last 4 minutes of play.
With the Johnnies up 69-61 and the Cobbers desperately in need of points on the board, Cook power dribbles from the wing inside showcasing his dominant footwork for a contested layup. Minutes later Schell executes a contested jumper in the same spot cutting the gap to four points.
Coming out of a time out, Cook takes a three pointer from the left wing, making it, slicing the Johnnies lead to just one point. With just 19 seconds left on the clock the Cobbers have no choice but to foul, sending the Johnnies to the line.
Thankfully for the Cobbers, the penalty shot is missed but rebounded by St. Johns Guard Liam Farniok who is fouled and sent to the line to shoot.
Whether it was a stroke of luck or sweaty palms, the shot is missed, this time rebounded by Concordia Senior Forward Jackson Loge who passes ahead to Sophomore Guard Justin Courneya who swings it full court to Schell for a heavily contested transition layup for the win.
“It’s good for morale too (said Cook after the game) you know, just especially seeing that we’ve lost a lot of close games, right at the buzzer, you know, just not finishing. So I think it was really good for our group to just see, see a close game actually go our way.”
