The pregame release from Concordia University listed the Michigan men’s basketball team’s record at 6-2, even though the Wolverines had only won five games coming into Monday night’s matchup between the two schools.

It appeared, then, that the game was already conceded to Michigan, the Divison-I institution with an enrollment over forty times greater than NAIA Division-II member Concordia.

No one told that to the Cardinals.

Concordia refused to quit Monday night, hanging in all night in a game expected to be a blowout, before finally falling to the Wolverines 86-65.

Michigan (6-2) appeared to be the overwhelmingly superior team both physically and athletically as soon as both squads came out for warmups. And when the Cardinals’ first shot turned into an embarrassing airball, they appeared to be in for a long night at Crisler Arena.

The Wolverines held a 17-6 advantage at the first media timeout. But Concordia (5-5) stayed in it, cutting the score to 27-22 with 7:14 left in the first half and entering the break with just a 10-point deficit.

And the Cardinals continued to fight in the second half. When Ryan Walton hit a jumper with 11:28 remaining, they once again found themselves down just five points.

Michigan had no answer for Concordia’s Rocko Holmes down low, who finished with a career-high 29 points. Holmes consistently got the ball deep in the post and was able to score over whoever was guarding him, almost always with no help defense.

It marked the second straight game the Wolverines struggled to defend in the paint after Harvard’s Keith Wright went off 18 points and 12 rebounds on Saturday.

But Michigan did eventually pull away, going on a 9-0 run to take a 75-57 lead with 6:48 left in the game to effectively ice it.

Redshirt freshman forward Jordan Morgan paced the Wolverines with 23 points. Sophomore point guard Darius Morris scored 19 and added 12 assists, while junior guard Zack Novak pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds to lead the team.