St. John's Game Recap

Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: November 30

St. John's Game Box Score - Now Online!

Team	1st Half	2nd Half	Total
Concordia	31	40	71
St. John's	33	31	64

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn.-- Concordia used a 40-point second half to rally past St. John's and claim the opener of the 2005-06 conference season 71-64.

The win in Collegeville, Minn. is the first conference-opening win for the Cobbers since the 2002-03 and only third in the past 10 seasons.

Concordia also snaps a four-game losing streak with the eight-point win, a skid that started in the final two games of last year. The Cobbers are now 1-2 overall in 2005-06. St. John's falls for the first time all season and evens their overall record at 1-1.

If there were doubts that this year's Concordia team would fall into the rut of years past by failing to finish off a rally, they were quickly put to rest as the Cobbers outscored the Johnnies 11-4 in the final four minutes of the second half.

Concordia failed to allow the pesky St. John's offense from running away with the game after they built a five-point lead with just over 7:30 remaining in regulation.

Paced by a game-high 20 points from emerging superstar Luke Linz and another ho-hum 19 points from preseason All-American Keith Eckhoff, the Cobbers countered every Johnnie rally and then shook off St. John's with the game on the line.

Senior Mark Dixon started the Concordia finishing charge by sinking two free throws and then hitting on a lay-up. St. John's cut the lead to 64-62, and after Cobber head coach Duane Siverson took a timeout, the Cobbers responded by scoring seven of the next nine points to seal the victory.

Dixon hit on three more free throws and Eckhoff sank a jumper and also converted on a pair of free throws.

As in years past, Concordia was superior at the free throw line and extremely economical from behind the three-point line. The Cobbers were ninth in the nation in free throw percentage in 2003-04 and have led the MIAC the past two seasons in that statistical category. Against the Johnnies, Concordia hit on 20 of their 26 attempts from the foul line to finish the game with a 76.9% average. The Cobbers were just as deadly from long range. Last season Concordia led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, and against St. John's, they picked up where they left off. Using superior shot selection, the Cobbers were 5-for-12 (41.7%) from behind the arc. In 2004-05, Concordia shot 43.3% from 3-point range.

Linz was 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-6 from the free throw line to post his 20 points. he also hauled in a team-high six rebounds. Eckhoff went 6-for-17 from the field, including 3-for-7 from 3-point range, to finish with 19 points. Dixon and sophomore Brock Citterman each added nine points. Dixon was an impressive 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Citterman did not miss a shot from the floor, going 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from behind the arc.

As a team Concordia shot 46.9% (23-for-49) from

the field and held a 32-31 edge in rebounding.

St. John's did their damage in the first half by gunning down 58.3% (7-for-12) of their shots from 3-point range. The Cobbers tightened their perimeter defense in the final 20 minutes and held the Johnnies to only 16.7% (2-for-12) from behind the arc in the second half.

Concordia will step out of the frying pan and into the fire when they travel to St. Peter to take on two-time defending MIAC champion Gustavus on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 3:15 p.m. The game can be heard live in the Fargo-Moorhead area on 1280 AM and via the internet at