<ast Saturday the Men’s Basketball Team traveled to Moorhead, Minnesota to take on Concordia College. Entering the contest on a three game losing streak, the Knights were looking to steal one on the road and right their ship during conference play. Instead, Carleton lost its fourth straight game, dropping the matchup by a tally of 62-60.
Carleton (6-5, 3-4 MIAC) started the game off well, jumping out to a 9-7 lead early on. The Knight’s early offense relied on freshman Shane McSparron, who finished with 11 points despite nursing a shoulder injury, and put up seven of his team’s first nine points.
However, the Knight’s 9-7 lead was the last that they would see. In fact, the Cobbers of Concordia held first half leads of as many as 14 points and held on to a narrow advantage throughout most of the second period.
Concordia (5-7, 3-4 MIAC) responded well to Carleton’s early success, making their initial run with 12:09 remaining in the first half, and eventually tied the game up with both teams level on 13 points. Outscoring the Knights 18-4 over the next eight minutes, the Cobbers relied on a season-best effort from junior guard Andrew Martinson to spark their offense.
In addition to Martinson’s 12 points, many of which came during Concordia’s big run, the Cobbers received 12 points and four assists from guard Dewon McKenzie, and 11 points and six boards from forward Ebo Nana-Kweson.
Although down by a score of 39-30 at halftime, Coach Guy Kalland sparked his Knights to a strong second half performance. Starting with 16:44 left in the second period, Carleton went on a commanding 10-0 run over the span of the next three minutes to pull the score to 48-45. At this point it seemed like the Knights had the momentum, much of which was due to another tremendous performance from senior forward Caleb Rosenow.
For the second game in a row, Rosenow’s strength inside led the Knights on offense. In fact, his 25 points tied a career high that he set in the Knight’s previous game, a home loss to Hamline. Not only were Rosenow’s final numbers terrific, but his timing was great as well.
He came up big for Carleton during their crucial 10-0 stretch, scoring six points during the span. The other four tallies were provided by wing Scott Theisen ’13. Theisen’s fast-break layup, which counted for two of his 12 total points, was the shot that pulled Carleton within three.
Although the Cobbers did push the lead out to nine once again with 9:40 left in the game, another quick spurt by the Knights tightened the gap to two just a few minutes later.
Carleton and Concordia traded buckets for much of the final eight minutes of the game, until Rosenow hit a strong layup in the paint to lock it all up at 60 with just over two minutes remaining. But unfortunately, those points, Rosenow’s 24th and 25th of the game, proved to be the last for the Knights.
With 1:05 to play, Concordia’s Martinson knocked down a huge fast-break jumper to give the Cobbers a 62-60 lead—an advantage that they would not relinquish.
The Knights, though, did have one final chance. Carleton was able to force Concordia into a five-second violation with 0:06 showing on the clock, giving point guard Tom Sawatzke ’13, who contributed ten points and four assists to the Knights attack, time to try one last shot as time expired. However, his well-contested attempt from long range—and the Knights’ comeback—fell short.