Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team dropped its Mountain East Conference opener with a 92-82 loss to Notre Dame College Saturday afternoon on Christie / Cox Court at the Carter Center.
The loss drops Concord's record to 2-2 overall on the season and to 0-1 in MEC play. Notre Dame improves to 1-3 overall and 1-0 in league games.
The Mountain Lions erased a three-point (43-40) halftime deficit to take a five-point lead at 55-50 with 13:15 remaining in the second half. However, the Falcons proceeded to go on a 15-3 run to move ahead 65-58 with just over nine minutes remaining in regulation.
CU battled back to trim the NDC lead to just one point (69-68) with seven minutes remaining in the half, but the Falcons were able to end the comeback threat with a 16-5 spurt over the next three minutes to extend their lead to 10 points en route to the 92-82 win.
Concord placed four players in double figures with junior guard A.J. Williams leading the way with a team-best 19 points. Sophomore forward
Terry Hopewell controlled the paint for much of the game, finishing with 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting to go with a game-high nine rebounds and two blocks.
Rounding out the Mountain Lions' top-scorers were junior guard
Mike Boyd with 12 and freshman guard
Ali Barnes with 11. Boyd also passed out a season-high eight assists in the losing effort.
Other contributors for Concord included sophomore guard
Cam Shannon with a season-high eight points while the duo of sophomore forwards
Nick Moyer and
Taylor Smith at six and five rebounds, respectively.
As a team, Concord held advantages over Notre Dame in rebounds (41-40), blocks (3-1) and free throw shooting percentage (73.3 – 60.9). For the game, the Mountain Lions finished a season-best 22-for-30 from the charity stripe. CU shot a respectable 42.2 percent (27-for-64) from the field only to be outdone by Notre Dame's stellar 50.7 shooting percentage (35-for-69).
Notre Dame was led to the victory by Jarvis Huntley, who went 12-for-22 from the field for 31 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Prior to the game Concord held its official court dedication in honor of former coaching greats Don Christie and
Steve Cox. The floor at the Carter Center will now be known as Christie / Cox court.
Concord will look to return to its winning ways 3:00 p.m. Monday when it hosts Urbana University in MEC competition. There will be no admission fee for Monday's contest.
