Indiana Tech 58, Concordia 57

(Feb. 6, 2010 - Ann Arbor, Mich.) -- The Concordia men's basketball team was one click on the clock away from sweeping the Indiana Tech Warriors for the first-time ever and sending the Cardinals into a close battle for the fourth playoff spot. But that second felt like an eternity as Ashton Foster grabbed an errant shot and rattled home the game winner for Tech sending the Warriors home happy with a 58-57 win.

The game was hardly a thing of beauty for either team and Concordia battled much of the way just to get back into contention. The Cardinals trailed 52-44 with three minutes remaining before they finally found some spark offensively.

Kyle Barlow (Sr. - Howell, Mich.) knocked down a three-pointer to cut the deficit to five and after a Warrior make by Shaun Cabrera, the Cards cut the lead to four after Austin Cook (So. - Mt. Clemens, Mich.) struck from downtown as well.

Barlow would finish with eight points and two assists while Cook had the lone make plus two rebounds and a blocked shot.

Concordia trailed 56-50 after James Hicks grabbed a Foster miss and knocked down a jumper in the paint with 2:10 remaining. Craig Archer (Sr. - Marysville, Mich.) cut the lead to one possession as he made one of two free throws and followed with a putback on a Jeremy Simmons (So. - Detroit, Mich.) miss the next time down the floor and the Cardinals were down 56-53 with a minute to go.

Archer had nine points and three rebounds, while Simmons barely missed on a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds, plus a pair of blocks.

Marius Williams (Jr. - Belleville, Mich.) would pick up a loose ball and go coast-to-coast to pull Concordia within a single digit at 56-55 and after stopping Tech on the offensive end, the Cards had a chance to take the lead as Williams went to the charity stripe for two shots and nine seconds remaining.

Williams knocked both shots down and the Warriors inbounded the ball and came storming up the court. Anthony Johnson tried to hit from inside the three-point line and missed. Kyle Pressley grabbed the board and tried to put it back in but the ball rattled off and into the hands of Foster who was able to squeeze through the defense and bank the shot off the glass giving Tech the one-point road win.

Williams, who entered with an 18-point scoring average, struggled off of 2-for-14 shooting as he finished with 10 points and four assists.

Concordia (10-16, 3-7 WHAC) falls back to the pack with the loss and is now tied with the Warriors for fifth, trailing Aquinas by one-and-half games as the Saints play Siena Heights on Sunday afternoon.

The Cardinals travel to Cornerstone University Wednesday evening to play the league-leading Golden Eagles, who are 9-1 and tied with Davenport for first-place. Cornerstone (21-5 overall) has won their last three games.