ST. PAUL, Minn. – In their final home game of the season, the Macalester College men's basketball team invited Concordia into the Leonard Center for a prime time battle on Feb. 19. The Scots departed the Doug Bolstorff Court victorious, toppling the Cobbers 81-67. The Scots climb to 8-16 overall and 5-10 in the MIAC, while Concordia tumbles to 11-13 overall and 7-8 in the MIAC.
The game opened with an 8-2 run for the Cobbers that forced Macalester to burn an early 30 second timeout. Out of the timeout, first year guard JP Kerrigan (Atherton, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) got free for a three-pointer that set the tone for the Scots and commenced his career night. The bucket also jump-started a 13-2 run for Macalester, 10 points of which came from Kerrigan.
With the lead secured, the Scots traded buckets with the Cobbers for the next few minutes until senior guard Marcus Crawford (Edina, Minn./Edina) sank a three-pointer to start a second Scot run, this time to close the half. In the final five minutes before intermission, Macalester outscored Concordia 12-5, six of which came from Kerrigan.
Kerrigan scored 18 points in the first half on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from three. The Scots shot 9-of-18 from long range in the half, compared to 3-of-13 for the Cobbers. Concordia also coughed up the ball five times, compared to just once from the Scots, who managed to get up nine more shots in the half than the Cobbers. Macalester went into halftime up 37-29.
Though Concordia cut the lead to five points to open the second half, that was as close as they would get for the rest of the evening. Crawford hit another three to extend the lead to eight, and Macalester continued to roll. Halfway through the second half, senior forward Armando Akapo-Nwagbo (Oweri, Nigeria/Pomona (Calif.)) layed out for a steal, and with no one back for the Cobbers, he took it coast-to-coast for a monster jam.
While the Scots maintained a substantial lead for the rest of the game, the Cobbers hung around until the closing minutes. With under two to play and the lead cut to eight, junior guard Eric Wentz (Minot, N.D./Minot) shook free of the Concordia defense for a midrange jumper. He sank the dagger, and the Scots hit their free throws to ride their final home win into the sunset.
The Scots' hot shooting carried on throughout the second half. They sank 7-of-15 from distance compared to the Cobbers' 4-of-12. Otherwise, the teams matched each other in rebounds (17), turnovers (4) and steals (2) in the half.
Like his squad, Kerrigan maintained his sizzling hot shooting in the half. He added another 13 points to his total, going 3-of-4 from three-point range and 4-of-6 at the charity stripe. Junior forward Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) contributed 11 points of his own in the half, shooting 2-of-3 from the field and going 7-for-8 at the stripe. He also added three assists. Junior forward Ryan Brush (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue) dropped 10 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from three after a slow first half.
Kerrigan paced the Scots with a career-high 31 points. He also marked a career-high eight made threes and five made free throws. He shot 9-of-13 from the field, 8-of-12 from three, and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Shannon finished with 13 points, four boards and four assists. Wentz logged 11 points, nine boards, two assists and two blocks.
The Scots play their final game on Saturday, Feb. 22 against Saint Mary's in Winona, Minn. Macalester's last match of the 2024-25 season will tip at 3:00 p.m.
