The Concord Men's Basketball team knew it would be the decided underdog in its WVIAC Tournament opener at Fairmont State Tuesday night.
The Fighting Falcons finished the regular season in fourth place, while Concord was 13th. Fairmont State had won 21 games, the Mountain Lions six. Plus, the Falcons had home court advantage in an elimination game.
All indications that it might wind up being a long night for CU.
It was.
Fairmont State unleashed a 21-0 first half rally to seize control, led by 33 points at halftime, and dispatched the Mountain Lions 93-68 at Joe Retton Arena.
The loss ended Concord's season at 6-22. Fairmont State improved to 22-6 and advanced to the conference quarterfinals Thursday night in Charleston.
The young Mountain Lions, starting four freshmen, were jittery from the beginning and fell behind 19-6 six minutes into the game.
Concord steadied itself and pulled within 21-14 on a Matt Parker layup with 11:21 to go before halftime. However, Fairmont State responded with its game-breaking rally over the next six minutes, and when it ended they were up 42-14 and on their way to the next round.
The Fighting Falcons attempted a remarkable 43 field goals in the first half, making 25 (.581). They wound up .542 (39-72) for the game. Concord was .567 (17-30) in the second half, and .441 (26-59) on the night.
Fairmont State outrebounded Concord 43-31, 14-7 in offensive boards.
Freshman Damien Tunstalle led the Mountain Lions with 13 points, all in the second half. Fellow freshman Rick Alderman added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds. Senior Matt Parker finished with 11 points in his final game at Concord. Rustin Jessee also ended his playing career on Tuesday night.
