MEN'S BASKETBALL: BATTLING THE COLD

MOUNTAIN LIONS HOLD OFF GLENVILLE STATE FOR 4TH STRAIGHT WIN

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It was cold Tuesday night outside the Jesse R. Lilly Gymnasium in Glenville, WV during Concord's Men's Basketball game against Glenville State, with wind-whipped snowflakes bouncing off the exterior walls of the venerable venue.

For a while, it was cold inside, too, with basketballs bouncing off rims over and over in the WVIAC contest.

The Mountain Lions battled through a frosty shooting performance and put the freeze on the Pioneers' offense to claim an 83-75 victory.

Concord stayed hot, taking their fourth straight win and their first on the road in league play. The victory lifted CU to 4-4 overall, 2-3 WVIAC.

Concord shot .459 (17-37) in the 1st half while staking a 45-41 lead at halftime. But, in the 2nd half, the Mountain Lions cooled off to just .281 (9-32).

However, CU limited Glenville State to an even-colder .265 (9-34) in the 2nd half, after the Pioneers shot .439 (18-41) in the first 20 minutes.

GSC bolted out to an eight-point lead at 14-6 less than three minutes after tipoff. The Pioneers would lead by as many as 10 points, at 29-19, with 11:59 left in the half and held a 39-30 advantage with 4:43 to go.

Concord then burst out for a 15-2 run to close out the half. Javaughn Acree-Manuel scored five straight points to start the rally, followed by four straight from Zack Williams and three point shots from Jerontae Hunter and Cory Willard. CU led 45-41 at the break.

The Mountain Lions started the 2nd half with a 9-3 mini-run to lead 54-44 then toiled to keep the Pioneers at bay. Glenville State (2-3, 2-2) would close to within a single point with 5:57 left and were within two points, at 77-75, with :37 remaining.
But Concord iced the game at free throw line from there, with Kortea Johnson going 4-4 and Rafee Smith 2-2.

With all the missed shots, rebounds were plentiful, and Glenville State forged a 51-47 advantage. The Pioneers also had a 24-20 edge in offensive rebounds. But Concord had the upper hand at the free throw line, going 25-32 (.781) to 16-22 (.727) for GSC.

As poorly as the teams shot, they took good care of the ball. Each squad committed only eight turnovers.

Acree-Manuel led all scorers with 24 points. He was 5-20 from the field and 3-8 from three point range, but 11-12 at the free throw line. Gentry Shrewsbury contributed 12 points and five rebounds.
In all, Concord had seven players score at least six points.

Justin Caldwell and Jonathan Bevins each tallied 21 points to pace Glenville State, and combined to shoot 16-39 (.410). But the rest of the Pioneers shot 11-36 (.306).

BOXSCORE

Up next for Concord is a non-conference game against NAIA opponent and former WVIAC foe West Virginia Tech Thursday, December 9 at the Carter Center. It's the second game of a home-and-home series between the two squads; the Golden Bears defeated Concord 95-89 on November 15 in Montgomery.

Thursday's game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 pm, following the CU women's game against the University of Charleston at 5:30. The game will be broadcast on Concord's flagship station, ESPN Radio 102.3 The Ticket.
Live, streaming video will also be provided.
Links to The Ticket's audio webcast and CU's streaming video can be found on the Men's Basketball homepage at www.cumountainlions.com.



^{(photos by Concord Sports Information)}

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