Cobbers Use Dominant First Half To Roll Past Crown

SAINT BONIFACIUS, Minn. (11/19/25) — Concordia turned a close opening stretch into a commanding road win Wednesday night, using timely scoring runs and dominance on the glass to top Crown 71–55 in Saint Bonifacius.

After Crown opened the scoring with a 3-pointer on its first possession, senior guard Peyton Belka answered immediately with a jumper to pull the Cobbers within one at 3–2, and Concordia never trailed again. The game remained tight at 5–5 following a mid-range bucket from sophomore guard Justin Courneya, but the Cobbers quickly began to pull away. Courneya knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 8–5, senior forward Jackson Loge scored inside for a 10–5 lead, and freshman guard Payton Schell capped the opening surge with a driving layup and free throw, pushing the margin to 13–5.

Concordia's work on the offensive glass soon began to pay dividends. Loge added a putback at 11:59 to make it 19–9, and by halftime, the Cobbers had already secured eight offensive rebounds. Crown trimmed the lead to six at 19–13, but Concordia responded with another extended push. A late Loge layup with 1:28 left in the half stretched the lead to 41–21. Crown hit a 3-pointer in the final 30 seconds, closing the half at 41–24, but Concordia had clearly established control through rebounding and aggressive free-throw play.

Crown started the second half strong, going on an 8–0 run to cut the deficit to 41–32 with 17:28 remaining. Concordia answered right away. Schell hit a jumper out of the timeout to restore a double-digit lead at 43–32, and from there, the Cobbers never let the margin dip below 10. Loge added a free throw, Belka knocked down a transition 3-pointer to make it 50–36, and Schell followed with a 3 of his own at 14:46, keeping the Cobbers comfortably in control. Later, Belka hit another three to extend the lead to 61–43, matching Concordia's largest advantage of the second half, while Holzer provided late inside scoring, including a jumper with just over a minute left that made it 70–55.

Loge led the way with a 15-point, 16-rebound double-double, while Cook controlled the defensive boards, recording a career-high 17 rebounds along with 12 points for his own double-double. Schell was perfect from the line, going 9-for-9 and finishing with a team-high 16 points. Holzer added 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench, and Belka contributed 10 points, including two second-half threes that stifled any Crown comeback.