Concordia’s Karl Larson made a free throw with 00:03 on the clock as the Cobbers knocked off the Gustavus men’s basketball team 69-68 on Saturday in Moorhead. Gustie junior Sam Paulson made a pair of free throws with 00:31 remaining to tie the game, but Larson made the second of two free throws to put Concordia ahead as Gustavus was unable to get a shot off on the last possession of the game. Robert Schmidt led the Gusties in scoring with 18 points as he went 4-for-5 from the three-point line.
Gustavus held a three-point lead at 18-15 with 9:36 left in the first half before using four points from Sam Paulson and a layup from Mychal Crowder to build its margin to nine points at 24-15. With 2:50 on the clock, Crowder converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Gusties their largest lead of the game at 32-21. Gustavus went on to take a 34-27 lead into halftime despite shooting 43.8 percent (14-for-32) and allowing Concordia to shoot 48.0 percent (12-for-25).
Ryan Hagemeyer scored five points at the first three minutes of the second half to fuel a 10-0 Cobber run as Concordia gained its first lead of the game with the score 37-34. Both squads went on small scoring streaks over the next several minutes before a layup by Sam Paulson gave the Gusties a 52-49 lead with nine minutes to play.
However, Darrin Olmscheid took over the game for the Cobbers as he scored 17 of the next 18 points to help Concordia retake the lead at 68-66 with under two minutes left to play. Sam Paulson tied the game after he made both ends of an one-and-one with 00:31 remaining.
As the game appeared to be headed towards overtime, Gustavus was called for a foul with three seconds on the clock. Karl Larson missed the first free throw, but drained the second as Concordia led 69-68. The Gusties called timeout to set up a full-court play, but were unable to get a shot off as the Cobbers hung on for the victory.
Robert Schmidt led Gustavus with 18 points on 5-for-7 shooting followed by Ryan McPartland and Sam Paulson with 15 each. Darrin Olmscheid paced Concordia with 30 points, including 22 in the second half. No other Cobber reached double-figures. The Gusties shot 25-for-52 from the floor for 48.1 percent and went 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) from the charity stripe. Concordia was 25-for-49 (51.0 percent) from the field, but nearly gave away the game at the free-throw line making 15-for-22, including 13-for-20 in the second half as Gustavus was called for 16 fouls.
The Gusties dropped to 8-8 overall and 7-4 in the conference standings. The Cobbers increased their overall record to 7-10 and their MIAC record to 4-8.
Gustavus returns to Gus Young Court on Wednesday when the Gusties face Saint Mary’s at 7:30 p.m.