MOORHEAD, Minn.  — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, heading to Memorial Auditorium for a 3 p.m. matchup with Concordia.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-3 MIAC | 1-5 Overall) at Concordia Cobbers (0-2 MIAC | 3-4 Overall), 3 p.m.
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: North Park used a 17-0 run to erase a three-point, 65-63 second-half Cardinal advantage, as the Vikings pulled away to beat Saint Mary's 88-75 Tuesday in Chicago, Ill. | Recap
• Concordia: The Cobbers methodically wore down Crown over the course of 40 minutes in cruising to an 86-58 nonconference win over the Storm Wednesday at Memorial Auditorium in Moorhead, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Concordia—A Year Ago:
• January 4, 2014: The Cardinals—coming off a 67-51 MIAC win over Macalester—matched Concordia blow-for-blow over the game's opening 20 minutes, but the Cobbers delivered the knock-out punch with a 20-6 run to open the second half, as CC handed Saint Mary's a 68-47 conference setback at Memorial Auditorium in Moorhead, Minn. | Recap
• February 1, 2014: Saint Mary's boasted three starters who scored in double figures—including a career-high 19 points from Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.)—in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Concordia.  Unfortunately, the Cobbers answered with all five of their starters scoring in double digits—not to mention a finishing kick that was tough to match—as Concordia used a game-ending 26-15 run over the final eight minutes to turn a two-point game into an 83-70 Cobber victory at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are right back in action on Monday, stepping out of conference play for a 7 p.m. showdown with Crown in St. Bonifacius, Minn.
• Concordia: The Cobbers hit the road on Monday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 7:45 MIAC matchup against Macalester.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
Saturday's game against Concordia is the second of three straight road games for the Cardinals, who travel to Crown on Monday, before returning home for a 7 p.m. conference game against St. Olaf. … Ronnie Ortiz (Dayton, Ohio) scored a team- and career-high 21 points in the Cardinals' loss to North Park last Tuesday. … Ortiz's 21-point effort marked the second straight game a Cardinal player has eclipsed the 20-point barrier—Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) netted a career-best 22 points against Viterbo on Dec. 20. … Ferron's 22-point effort was the Cardinals' highest individual single-game performance of the season. … Ortiz has now scored in double figures in five of the team's six games. … Ortiz was one of three players to score in double figures against North Park Tuesday—Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) finished with 14 points, while Bakari Collins (Kenosha, Wis.) chipped in 11. … Saint Mary's has put three players in double figures in four of their first six games this season. … Swiggum hauled in a season-high eight rebounds against North Park Tuesday. … Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.) finished with seven rebounds against North Park—it was the fourth straight game the Cardinal sophomore has posted seven rebounds. … Ortiz heads into Saturday's conference matchup at Concordia averaging a team-high 12.3 ppg, while Swiggum is second at 9.5 ppg and Ferron is third at 9.2 ppg. … Nick Ogren (Stillwater, Minn.) and Jake Rhyner (Apple Valley, Minn.) have both posted career-high scoring performances this season—Ogren netted 15 points against Viterbo on Dec. 20, while Rhyner scored 11 vs. Hamline on Dec. 3. … Swiggum, an honorable-mention All-MIAC selection in a year ago—and the team-leader in both scoring average (12.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg)—has a team-high 34 rebounds (5.7 rpg)—two more than Schumacher. … Saint Mary's, which drained 113 3-pointers last season, has netted 39 treys through six games—including a season-high 10 treys vs. North Park on Tuesday. … Ogren is shooting 39 percent from behind the arc and leads the team with 11 3-pointers, two more than Ortiz … The Cardinals' 75 points in their 88-75 loss to North Park Tuesday were a season high—and the third time this season Saint Mary's had netted 70 or more points in a game. … The Cardinals' 70-67 win over Hamline on Dec. 3 snapped their eight-game losing streak vs. the Pipers, dating back to a 98-77 win on Feb. 10, 2010. … The win over Hamline was also the Cardinals' first season-opening victory since beating Crown 78-57 to kick off the 2010-11 season.
 
Scouting The Concordia Cobbers:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
Saturday's game against Saint Mary's is the second of back-to-back home games for the Cobbers, who are 1-1 on their home court this season. … Wednesday's 86-58 win over Crown snapped the Cobbers' two-game losing streak. … Concordia has now scored 80 or more points in three of their four wins this season—including their season-high 86-point effort against Crown Wednesday. … Brandon Giese scored a team- and game-high 17 points against Crown Wednesday. … All 16 Cobber players saw action against the Storm Wednesday, with 14 scoring at least two points. … Giese's 17-point showing against Crown equaled his season high. … Giese has now led the Cobbers in scoring in five of their seven games this season. … Giese heads into Saturday's game against Saint Mary's averaging a team-best 14.1 ppg. He is one of three Cobbers averaging in double figures—Jordan Bolger (13.1 ppg) and Tom Fraase (11.3 ppg) are the other two. … Bolger is also the team's rebounding leader, hauling in 42 boards in seven games. … As a team, the Cobbers have knocked down 53 3-pointers, led by Giese with 18, Brett Bergeson with 15 and Fraase with 12. … Concordia has outscored its first seven opponents 505-455—including 264-233 in the second half. … CC has outscored its opponents by an average of 30 points in its last three wins.