ABILENE, Texas — Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball teams rally came up short in a 98-91 loss to Concordia on Saturday afternoon in American Southwest Conference action at the Mabee Complex.

Concordia jumped out to an early 26-12 lead with 11:23 to play in the first half. The Tornados hit 10 3-pointers in the first half and led 51-37 at halftime.

HSU surged out of the locker room thanks to some inspired defense and cut the deficit to 56-53 with 13:36 to play. The 16-5 run was fueled by three 3-pointers two by John Derr and one by Terrance Booker.

The game remained close the rest of the way, but the Cowboys never could get over the hump. HSU cut the deficit to 73-72 on a Derr 3-pointer with 6:26 to play, but Chris McOmber had a huge second half to keep the Cowboys from taking the lead. McOmber, who had just 33 points on the season, had 21 points in the second half on 6-of-7 shooting.

Concordia hit back-to-back 3-pointer from Tayler Jacobs and Jason Recendez to push the lead back to eight points with 4:54 to play and HSU never got it closer than four the rest of the way.

Matt Addison led five Cowboys in double figures with 26 points and he added 10 assists and five steals, but went just 6-for-21 from the field. Freshman Derrick Jefferson had 17 points, 14 rebounds and seven steals. Freshman Jim Walter had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Booker had 15 points and Derr added 11.

The Cowboys shot just 37.7 percent from the field and went 29-of-43 at the free throw line. Concordia went 15-of-29 from 3-point range in the game.

McOmber led the way with 23 points, Nick Haynes had 20 points and Jacobs added 18.

It was the final home game for two Cowboy seniors. Casey Riddle, who has missed the last five games with a broken finger, played seven minutes for the first time in three weeks and Courtney Lockridge had five points in 16 minutes.  

The Cowboys are now 14-9 on the year and 13-6 in ASC action. Concordia improved to 14-9 overall and 12-7 in ASC play. The Cowboys close the regular season on the road with games at Sul Ross State and Howard Payne next weekend.  

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