MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team mounted a late comeback led by junior guard Caleb Williams (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) but came up short, losing to Concordia College, 83-78 Wednesday evening at Memorial Auditorium. The MIAC loss ends a three-game winning streak and drops the Scots to 13-7 overall and 9-6 in conference play. The Cobbers improve to 8-13, 6-10 MIAC.

Concordia took control of a close game with an 11-0 run for a 22-10 lead with 12:33 on the clock in the first half. After a three-pointer by sophomore guard Coby Gold (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and a basket from first year guard Eric Wentz (Minot, N.D./Minot) made the score 22-15, the Cobbers scored the next seven points for a 29-15 lead midway through the half. The lead grew to 15, 34-19 before the Scots closed out the half with an 11-2 run to make the halftime score 36-30 Concordia. Macalester shot 35.3 percent from the floor and was outrebounded, 25-15 in the first half.

Early in the second half, four points from Williams and a basket by first year forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) made it a one-point game, 36-35. After the Cobbers pushed the lead back to six, 41-35, the Scots used a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the game, 44-43 with 14:17 remaining. Concordia regained the upper hand, eventually reeling off a 15-2 run to take a commanding 61-48 edge with 8:13 to play.

With Macalester trailing by 10 with 6:16 left, Williams caught fire and virtually brought the Scots back by himself. He drained five three-pointers on six attempts, went 7-of-8 overall from the field and 2-of-3 from the line to score 21 points in the final six minutes of the game. Williams' last three of the game brought Macalester to within three, 81-78 with 12 seconds on the clock. But the Cobbers made two free throws and time ran out on the Scots' comeback attempt.

Williams finished with a career-high 39 points, 29 in the second half, while making a career-best eight threes on 12 attempts. He also had eight rebounds and two steals. Gold registered 20 points while hitting four three-pointers to go with six boards and three blocks. Junior guard Tom Andreae (Newton, Mass./Newton North) tallied eight points, two assists and two steals. Matthew Johnson led Concordia with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Macalester hosts Gustavus in a key MIAC contest on Saturday, Feb. 4. The game starts at 1:00 p.m. in the Leonard Center.