Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team erased an 11-point deficit with five minutes to play on its way to a 73-66 victory over Urbana University in Mountain East Conference competition Monday afternoon on Christie / Cox Court at the Carter Center.
The victory improves Concord's record to 3-2 overall and to 1-1 in MEC play. Urbana falls to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in league games.
Concord found itself trailing the Blue Knights, 61-50, with five minutes remaining in regulation before going on a dominating 23-5 run over the remainder of the game to pull off the seven-point victory. The outburst was sparked by sophomore guard
Paul Byrd, who exploded to score 13 of his team-high 17 points in the game's final minutes to help seal the victory.
The Mountain Lions defense held Urbana to just one made field goal over the final five minutes.
Byrd was an efficient 6-for-8 from the field, 2-for-3 from three-point range and 3-for-3 from the foul line. As a team, the Mountain Lions enjoyed great success at the foul line, making 28-of-30 free throws (93.3 percent) as opposed to Urbana's 52.2 percent (12-for-23) shooting from the foul line.
Four different Concord players made at least three foul shots including junior guard
Mike Boyd, who picked up nine of his 13 points from the charity stripe.
Byrd and Boyd were joined in double figures by freshman guard
B.J. Hamlet, who led a strong bench effort by the Mountain Lions with a season-high 16 points. Fellow Concord reserve freshman guard
Jalen Camper chipped in eight points and a team-high five rebounds.
For the game, Concord held advantages over Urbana in steals (7-6), blocks (4-1) and bench points (36-11). The Mountain Lions, which played eight players off the bench Monday, have won the battle of the benches in four of their five contests this season.
Concord led for the game's first three minutes before Urbana grabbed the lead and proceeded to extend the margin to 13 points at 20-7 with 12 minutes to play in the opening period. However, Concord managed to make one of its many comebacks on the day, tying the game going into halftime at 33-33.
Urbana once again opened up a seemingly commanding lead for the majority of the second half and seemed poised to run away with a double-digit victory before Concord stormed back with its late-game heroics to capture the victory.
Boyd has scored in double digits in all five of Concord's games this season.
The Blue Knights were led by Danny Goins, who scored a game-high 18 points in the loss.
Concord will step out of MEC competition to play a pair of non-conference games at Currence Classic in Bluefield, W. Va. 5:00 p.m. Friday against Chowan and 4:00 p.m. Saturday vs. Davis & Elkins.
