Box Score
WISE, Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team cut a 19-point UVa.-Wise lead down to three points and had a chance to send the game into overtime, but a last-second shot just missed as the Mountain Lions lost to the Cavaliers, 71-68, Thursday night at the Prior Center in Mountain East Conference play.
Concord (5-12, 2-9 MEC) was led by junior guard
Mike Boyd, who came off the bench for just the third time in his Concord career to score a game-high 22 points, pass out four assists and grab four rebounds. Boyd went 6-for-9 from the field while also connecting on 9-of-11 free throw attempts.
Junior guard A.J. Williams recorded a 16-point, three-rebound performance in 18 minutes played and sophomore guard
Cam Shannon chipped in 13 points and two steals. Shannon went 7-for-8 from the foul line, continuing a trend of the shifty guard getting to the free throw line. Shannon has averaged 8.5 foul shots over CU's last four games.
UVa.-Wise (8-7, 5-6 MEC) started the contest on a 21-8 run that the Mountain Lions seemingly could not get out from under. Concord shot 27.6 percent (8-for-29) from the field in the first 20 minutes as the Cavilers took a 37-21 lead into halftime.
The Mountain Lions came out of the break rejuvenated, starting the second half on a quick 6-0 run before eventually cutting the UVa.-Wise lead down to just seven points at 46-39 with 15 minutes left to play.
CU's second-half comeback bid was started by the quartet of Boyd, Williams, Shannon and sophomore forward
Nick Moyer. Boyd scored six points in the first five minutes of the period with the three other Mountain Lions adding four points each.
However, the Cavaliers seemingly withstood the Concord run and found themselves leading the visitors by 10 points (65-55) with four minutes remaining in regulation.
Undeterred, the hot-shooting Mountain Lions, which went 15-for-27 (55.6 percent) in the second half, continued to fight by playing great defense and frequently getting to the foul line. Concord would go on to score 13 of the games next 14 points to cut the UVa.-Wise advantage to 69-68 with one minute to play.
The two schools traded possessions in the final 60 seconds before Concord was forced to foul UVa.-Wise's Matt Day who in turn made a pair of free throws to boost the Cavalier's lead to 71-68 heading into a CU timeout with five seconds to play.
The Mountain Lions final possession went to sharp-shooter freshman guard
Aaron Miller, whose last-second three-pointer just hit off the rime to give Wise the narrow win.
For the game, Concord shot 41.1 percent (23-for-56) from the field and 83.3 percent (20-for-24) from the foul line. The Mountain Lions' defense forced UVa.-Wise to shoot just 37.3 percent (25-for-67) from the field.
The Maroon and Gray held advantages over UVa.-Wise in turnovers committed (7-9), blocks (5-3), steals (6-3), bench points (42-6), points in the paint (36-30) and points off of turnovers (14-12). Concord's seven turnovers were a season-low.
Other top performers for Concord included sophomore forward
Terry Hopewell and junior guard
Paul Byrd. Hopewell had three blocks, his seventh multi-rejection game of the season and Byrd grabbed a career-high six rebounds.
UVa.-Wise's senior forward Deon Boyce collected his 13th consecutive double-double with 20 points and 18 rebounds in the victory.
The Mountain Lions will start the second half of their MEC schedule 4:00 p.m. Saturday at Glenville State. Concord defeated the Pioneers 83-71 earlier in the season.
