In their first meeting against the University of Charleston this season, the Concord Men's Basketball team played perhaps its best game of the season in administering a 94-70 blowout at the Carter Center on January 28th.
In the rematch, the Mountain Lions anticipated facing an angry, fire-breathing, payback-seeking group of Golden Eagles.
That didn't quite happen. But Charleston, remember that revenge is a dish best served cold, methodically pulled away in the second half in an 84-69 victory at Eddie King Gymnasium.
Concord trailed 42-39 at halftime, but quickly rallied to take a 43-42 lead. Charleston answered with seven unanswered points and a 49-43 lead, then gradually extended their lead and secured the victory in the game's final minutes.
Freshman center Rick Alderman topped the Mountain Lions with 22 points (on 10-14 shooting) and eight rebounds. Junior Rafee Smith followed his career-high 30 points on Saturday with 17 on Monday, shooting 8-15 from the field. Smith is 20-29 in his last two games. Gentry Shrewsbury chipped in 11 points and five rebounds.
Charleston's 6'6”, 270-pound center Ibrahim Marone muscled his way to a double-double of 21 points and 21 rebounds. He was 10-13 from the floor. Jonathan Liggins and Bhaadar Russell added 17 and 16 points, respectively for the Golden Eagles.
Concord visits Shepherd on Wednesday night, in an 8:00 pm EST tipoff at the Butcher Center. It's part of a doubleheader with the CU women's team, and Classic Rock 102 The River (102.3 FM WMTD) will broadcast both games, starting with the “Mountain Lion Preview Show” at 5:30 pm. Streaming audio can be found at www.theriver102.com.
