MOORHEAD, Minn. — Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.) enjoyed his most productive offensive performance in a Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball uniform Saturday afternoon.
 
Unfortunately, Saint Mary's could not parlay Romportl's career-high 22-point effort into a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory, as Concordia held off a furious late rally in dealing the Cardinals a 73-68 setback at Memorial Auditorium.
 
The Cardinals had the upper hand early in the first half, grabbing a 16-13 lead on a Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) 3-pointer midway through the first half, but the Cobbers responded with 10 unanswered points to take a 23-16 advantage.
 
The see-saw first half continued, with Saint Mary's using a 9-2 burst to knot the game at 25-25, and neither team would lead by more than two the rest of the way, with Cole Kruger (Hayfield, Minn.) draining a layup at the buzzer to make it 35-35 at the break.
 
Concordia came out firing to open the second half, scoring nine straight points and using a 20-7 half-opening run to take a 55-42 lead with 12:05 remaining in regulation.
 
The Cardinals—thanks in part to a pair of Romportl 3-pointers—whittled that Cobber lead to three, 63-60, with less than five minutes on the clock. Saint Mary's would get within three three more times over the game's final 4:16—including 71-68 on a Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.) layup with five seconds left, but CC's Dylan Alderman drained a pair of back-breaking free throws to ice the win.
 
Romportl went 8-for-16 from the field with four 3-pointers en route to his career-high 22 points, while Kruger chipped in 13 points on 6 of 13 shooting from the field.
 
As a team, the Cardinals shot 42 percent from the field (27-fo-64) with seven 3-pointers and a 7-fof-15 effort from the free throw line. Concordia, meanwhile, knocked down 24 of 49 field goals (49 percent)—including six treys—and added a 19-fore-26 showing from the charity stripe.
 
Austin Heins scored a team-high 17 points to lead four players in double figures, while Alderman added 15, Zach Kinny tallied 12, and Austin Nelson posted 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Cardinals (3-8 MIAC, 5-10 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, traveling to Carleton's West Gym in Northfield, Minn., for a 7 p.m. showdown wit the Knights.