Cobbers push pace, roll past Knights
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NEW ULM -- Concordia College's transition offense on Monday night doomed Martin Luther College as the Cobbers cruised to a 92-62 win over the Knights in a nonconference men's basketball game at MLC.
That fast-break offense helped the Cobbers (2-4) finish with five players in double figures, led by Jackson Jangula's 15 points. Rowan Nelson and Matthew Johnson's each had 14 points for Concordia, while Alex Huber had 13 and Dylan Inniger added 11 off the bench.
MLC (0-7) was led by Ezra Blumer's 13 points, while Thomas Balge had 12 points and Seth Veers added 10.
The Cobbers focused on pushing the pace right from the get-go, getting a 3 from Jangula to cap off an 8-0 run and pull ahead 10-2. After MLC ended that run with a bucket inside from Balge, Concordia got a 7-0 run to lead 17-4 and force a Knights timeout with 13:40 still to play in the first half.
MLC got a corner 3 from Ethan Kjenstad and a fadeaway jumper from the foul line by Nathan Miller to cut the deficit to single digits, 17-9. Concordia answered with 3s in transition from Tyler Kraft and Inniger before a fast-break bucket in the paint from Inniger gave the Cobbers a 25-9 lead.
The Cobbers increased their first-half lead to 30-12 on another fast-break basket by Inniger before MLC got a 7-2 run that ended on a 3 from Micah Kieselhorst to have the Knights down 32-19. Concordia continued to push the ball down the court for points and trips to the free-throw line after that, however, ending the half on a 20-9 run for a 52-28 halftime lead.
The Cobbers made all 11 of their free-throw attempts in the first half and finished the game 15 of 17 at the charity stripe. They also shot 50% from the floor.
The Knights made 13 of 16 free throws, but they struggled away from the line as they shot 35% from the floor.
Concordia kicked off the second half with an and-one from Huber before Kieselhorst answered. Nelson quickly gave Concordia its second consecutive and-one, however, putting the Cobbers up 58-30 early in the second half.
A 3 by Sammy Bolger in the closing minutes gave Concordia its largest lead of the night and was the final basket of the game.
MLC hosts Carleton at 7 p.m. Monday in another nonconference game.