WINONA, Minn. (1/30/12)—Concordia led for almost the entire first 30 minutes of the game but then relinquished the lead in the final eight, could never recover and fell 64-60 to St. Mary's in Winona. The junior tandem of Jason Huus and Brandon Fisher combined for 32 of the Cobbers' 60 points.

Concordia led from the opening tap and led by as many as eight points in the first half. The Cardinals had a pair of brief leads during the opening 20 minutes but CC responded each time they gave up the lead and were able to take a 30-27 lead into the break.

The Cobbers held the lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half and had the score tied at 41-41 with 9:00 to play before they let SMU go on a 10-5 run to grab a five-point lead at 53-48. Concordia was never able to get back in front despite cutting the lead to a single point on two occasions and two points on four different trips up the floor.

Concordia struggled to get back-to-back stops in the final nine minutes of play. The Cobbers held the Cardinals scoreless in consecutive possessions just one time in the final nine minutes of play with the game on the line. St. Mary's was able to come up with key points in the last five minutes and went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line down the stretch.

Huus and Fisher did most of their damage in the second half. The pair had 27 of their 32 points in the final 20 minutes of play. Huus was 5-for-9 from the floor in the second half, was 4-for-4 from the foul stripe and had 12 of his team-high 17 points in the final period. Fisher hit a couple of key 3-pointers in the final minutes of play and had all 15 of his points in the second half. Fisher also had a team-high nine rebounds.

Concordia shot 35.9% (23-for-64) from the floor and 26.7% (4-for-15) from 3-point range. St. Mary's also connected on 23 field goals for the game. They were 23-for-50 (46.0%) from the floor but just 1-for-8 (12.5%) from outside the arc. The biggest shooting edge, and perhaps the overall difference in the game, came at the free throw line. The Cobbers were 10-for-15 (66.7%) from the charity stripe for the game while the Cardinals were 17-for-23 (73.9%) from the line – including 14-for-19 (73.7%) in the second half.

St. Mary's had four of their five starters record at least 10 points. The Cardinal starters accounted for all but four of the team's 64 total points. Michael Burfeind was 9-for-17 from the floor and finished with a game-high 22 points. Pat Freeman went 7-for-8 from the free throw line, including a perfect 6-for-6 in the final 3:06 of the second half and finished with 14 points. He also had 11 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season.

Concordia will look to get back on the winning track when they host Bethel on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 7:45 p.m.