St. Joseph, Minn. – In a very close game against Concordia tonight (Jan. 15), the Saint Benedict basketball team fell to the Cobbers by a score of 69-63.
 
In just the Blazers' second home loss this season, they see their attempted comeback at the end of the second half come up short. The loss brings the Blazers' record to 7-5, and drops their conference record to 4-5.
 
After starting out with a very close 10-9 lead, the Blazers took a 9-to-4 run to extend their lead to six points. The Blazers went on to hold the lead for the remainder of the first half and took a 32-27 lead into halftime.
 
The Cobbers came out strong in the second half, going on a 7-to-2 run in the first three minutes of the half to tie the game at 34-34. The Cobbers then went on an 8-to-2 run to give them a 42-36 lead. From here, the Blazers came back strong and tied the game at 42-42.
 
The Cobbers then took a slight lead and continued to gradually increase it until they led 59-50 with five minutes left in the game. The Blazers then attempted a comeback, which was thwarted by the Cobbers after bringing the score back to 64-61.
 
With just two minutes remaining in the game, the Cobbers extended their lead with seven consecutive free throws and finished the game with a 69-63 lead.
 
Brianna Barrett (Annandale, Minn.) led the team offensively tonight with a career high of 29 points, with Tish Alexander (Minneapolis, Minn.) adding another 13 points. Morgan Dale finished the night with a team high of eight rebounds with five of them being defensive. Dale also led the team with two blocks tonight and finished with seven points.
 
Barrett also contributed to the Blazers' defense with seven rebounds and Alexander added another five. After starting the first half with a field goal percentage of 38.7%, and a three point percentage of 40%, the Blazers struggled in the second half with a percentages of 27.3% and 22.2% respectively.
 
The Blazers will move on to face the Carlton Knights in Northfield, Minn. this Saturday (Jan. 18) at 1 p.m. As the Blazers move on to the second half of the season, they will need to start collecting MIAC wins, as they slipped into seventh place with the loss today.