MOORHEAD, Minn. –The Carleton College men's basketball team lost the regular season finale in overtime at Concordia College-Moorhead, 82-73. The Knights led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but needed a Luke Harris basket with 0.5 remaining in regulation to force overtime.
 
The visitors struggled to take care of the basketball, and it proved to be a difference maker in the contest as 17 turnovers for Carleton (16-9, 9-7 MIAC) led to 23 points for the Cobbers (12-13, 8-8 MIAC).
 
Neither team could find the shot from long range as Carleton went 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) and Concordia was 6-of-25 (24 percent), but they made up for the lack of the 3-point shot with strong work from the free throw line, where the Knights went 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) and the Cobbers shot 20-of-22 (90.9 percent).
 
With 15:25 to play, the score sat knotted at 8-8, but the Knights utilized an 18-3 run spanning eight minutes of game time to earn a 26-11 edge. They held this 15-point advantage, leading 32-17 before an 8-0 burst by the hosts trimmed the lead in half; 32-25 with 2:04 to play in the first period.
 
After the opening 20 minutes, the Knights led 34-27, as the visitors held the hosts to 6-of-26 from the field and 0-of-9 from beyond the arc. Despite going more than nine minutes of game time without a field goal make, the Cobbers kept it close by earning 16 free throw attempts, of which they made 15.
 
The Cobbers carried the momentum into the second half, capitalizing on a 10-2 start to capture their first lead of the afternoon at 37-36. A 9-0 spurt by the Knights in response allowed them to regain an eight-point cushion.
 
With just under 10 minutes to go, the Cobbers retook a 48-47 lead when Rowan Nelson drained the first Concordia 3-pointer of the ballgame after the hosts mis-fired on their initial 13 attempts.
 
The lead see-sawed back and forth. The Knights rebuilt a 64-58 cushion with 2:27 to play, but Nelson knocked down consecutive triples to knot the score at 64-64 with 1:41 to play.
 
Carleton appeared to come up with a defensive stop on the Cobbers' final possession. When the shot clock hit '0', the ball appeared to still be in the hand of Peyton Belka, but the officials counted the basket — there is no replay review in the MIAC — and the hosts owned a 66-64 lead with 17.1 ticks remaining.
 
Carleton put the ball into the hands of Harris, the reigning MIAC Offensive Player of the Year.  In the dying seconds of regulation, the senior guard scored a tough layup between the two tallest players on the floor for Concordia.
 
Overtime came up all Concordia, as the hosts outscored the Knights 16-7 in the extra five minutes.
 
The Knights, who shot 27-of-53 (50.9 percent) as a team, were led by four players in double figures: Harris with 17, Matt Drake with 14, Josh Engelberg with 13, and Spencer Goetz with 10.
 
Kaden Pieper did a large chunk of the damage for the Cobbers, who shot 28-of-66 (42.4 percent) from the field as a team. Piper poured in a career-high 26 points off the bench, matching his combined scoring total from the previous seven games. Nelson followed with 19 points, and Jackson Loge posted a double-double with 15 points, 14 rebounds, and three blocks.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will host Augsburg University in the MIAC Playoffs quarterfinal at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
 
While regular season games at West Gym have free admission, the MIAC requires schools to sell tickets for postseason play. Tickets will go on sale Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. All tickets for the 2025 MIAC Playoffs will be sold and purchased online via HomeTown Ticketing. There will not be cash sales at any venue; however, spectators can purchase tickets using a mobile device, including while at the venue. General admission adult tickets are $12 (plus HomeTown Ticketing service charge). Student (with ID) tickets are $3 (plus HTT service charge), and children ages five and under are admitted free.