Box Score
FAIRMONT, W. Va. – Sophomore guard
Cam Shannon matched his career-high with 18 points, but it wasn't quite enough as Fairmont State University used a late second-half run to upend the Concord University men's basketball team, 71-66, Saturday night in Mountain East Conference action at Retton Arena.
Concord (5-9, 2-6 MEC) led by one point at 59-58 with five minutes to play before Fairmont State (10-3, 5-2 MEC) ended the game on a 13-7 run to secure the five-point victory. The loss was the Mountain Lions' fourth defeat of the year by five points or less.
As a team, Concord committed a season-low nine turnovers while forcing Fairmont State into 14 miscues. Concord also outshot FSU from the foul line after converting 74.2 percent (23-for-31) of its free throws compared to the Falcons' 63.2 percent (24-for-38).
Shannon got to his career-high after going 6-for-11 from the field, 1-for-1 from three-point territory and 5-for-8 from the foul line. In addition to his scoring output, Shannon also collected four rebounds. 17 of Shannon's points came in the second half.
Junior guard
Mike Boyd subsidized a spotty shooting night from the field (2-for-6) by shooting an impressive 10-for-12 from the foul line to finish with 14 points. Like Shannon, Boyd saved most of his scoring for the second half, recording 12 points in the final 20 minutes of play. Defensively, Boyd came away with three steals to match a career-high.
Starting his first collegiate game, freshman forward
Grant Dickinson scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds to tie teammate sophomore forward
Nick Moyer for a Concord-high.
The Mountain Lions were ahead for all but 34 seconds in the first half, including a game-high 10-point lead over the Falcons at 26-16 with 6:15 remaining in the opening half.
Concord earned its double-digit lead thanks in part to the trio of freshman guard
B.J. Hamlet, freshman guard
Aaron Miller and Dickinson. Through the opening 14 minutes, Hamlet had eight points while both Miller and Dickinson added five points.
FSU erased the Mountain Lions' lead to take a two-point advantage over Concord into halftime off of a 17-5 spurt over the period's final six minutes.
Unfazed, Concord came out of the break to score the game's first eight points, six of which came from Shannon, to pull back ahead 39-33 three minutes into the second half. Fairmont State and Concord proceeded to trade the lead twice over the following 12 minutes with CU eventually coming away with a five-point edge, 59-54, with 5:48 to play.
However, the Falcons managed to avoid the home defeat by going on one last run over the final five minutes that featured FSU making all three of its attempts from the field, shooting 10-of-14 from the free throw line and forcing Concord to shoot just 1-for-10 from the field en route to the victory.
CU held advantages over FSU in bench scoring (24-7), second chance points (10-8) and points off turnovers (14-8).
Fairmont State was led to the victory by Thomas Wimbush, who scored a game-high 24 points. FSU won the rebounding battle, 46-32.
The Mountain Lions will look to return to their winning ways 7:30 p.m. Monday at Shepherd.
