MBB: BIG BOUNCE-BACK

CU RALLIES LATE TO STUN ALDERSON-BROADDUS

Javaughn Manuel at A-B
In the wake of Saturday's unsatisfactory loss at Shepherd, Concord men's basketball head coach Kent McBride insisted on a better effort in Monday night's visit to Alderson-Broaddus.

He got it.

The Mountain Lions bounced back in a big way, rallying from a 13-point 2nd half deficit to stun the 2nd-place Battlers, 82-73, at Rex Pyles Arena in Philippi, WV.

The win snapped CU's three-game losing streak and buttressed the Mountain Lions' hopes of finishing in the top half of the WVIAC, while dealing a serious blow to the Battlers' chances of winning the conference's regular season title.

A-B bolted out to an early 9-2 lead before CU countered to tie the game at 10-10.  The score would be tied four more times before the Battlers moved to a 37-32 lead at halftime.  A-B extended its advantage to 13 points twice in the 2nd half, the last time at 55-42 with 14:36 left. 

The Mountain Lions trailed 61-53 when the comeback began.  CU went on a 16-8 rally – fueled by seven points from Burnell Granderson, making his first start of the season – to tie the score at 69-69 with 4:55 to go. 

Concord started a game-breaking 11-0 rally with the game tied at 71-71.  Granderson put CU ahead with a pair of free throws with 3:27 left (below right) and pushed the lead to 75-71 with a layup 34 seconds later. 
The Mountain Lions forced a turnover on A-B's next possession, leading to a free throw from Corey Neeley for a 76-71 lead.

BG Tie-Breaking FT
After A-B missed a shot, Neeley drained a three-pointer with 1:20 left that stretched the lead to 79-71.  Another free throw from Neeley and a layup by Mike Boyd closed out the run with :41 to go and sent a few fans heading for the exits.

The Mountain Lions recovered from shooting .321 (9-28) in the 1st half to shoot .545 (12-22) in the 2nd.  Concord out-rebounded A-B 18-10 after halftime, with a 7-4 edge in offensive rebounds.
CU went 34-44 from the free throw line (.773), including  23-29 (.793) in the 2nd half.  The Mountain Lions forced 20 turnovers while committing only nine.

Senior Javaughn Manuel (upper left) paced Concord with a game-high 26 points, 16 in the 2nd half, finishing the night 12-13 from the line. 

Granderson and Neeley each added 19 points.  Granderson scored 15 points in the 2nd half, making 7-7 free throws in the process.

Kurlin Bohanon led A-B (16-5, 13-4) with 24 points.


BOXSCORE / PLAY-BY-PLAY
(courtesy A-B Sports Information)


Up next for Concord (11-10, 8-9) is a return to the Carter Center for a meeting with WVIAC rival Ohio Valley on Saturday, February 11.  Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 pm.  Concord dropped an 88-84 result to the Fighting Scots in Vienna, WV on January 9.

Saturday's game will be broadcast on News/Talk AM 620/101.1 FM WWNR, and Concord will provide Live Stats and streaming video.  Links can be found in the navigation bar near the top of the men's basketball homepage on www.cumountainlions.com.











Print Friendly Version