A.J. Williams
Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team shot 51.9 percent from the field and junior guard A.J. Williams scored 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half, but it wasn't quite enough as the University of Charleston overcame a five-point halftime deficit to defeat the Mountain Lions 81-73 Thursday night in Mountain East Conference play at the Carter Center
Concord (5-8, 2-5 MEC) trailed for the majority of the first half before rattling off a 23-10 run over the final six minutes of the period to erase Charleston's (7-4, 4-3 MEC) eight-point lead and take a 41-36 lead into halftime. Sophomore guard
Cam Shannon scored nine points in the closing moments to lead the run by going 4-for-4 including a three-pointer in the half's final minutes
The Mountain Lions maintained their lead for the opening five minutes of the second half until Charleston finally pulled ahead 53-52 with 14:37 left to play in the game. CU battled back to tie the game at 58-58 at the 10-minute mark thanks to a pair of free throws by freshman forward
Grant Dickinson, but the Golden Eagles quickly regained the lead on the next possession.
Charleston went on to score 19 of the game's next 27 points to extend its lead 11 (77-66) with 1:23 to play en route to the eight-point victory.
After a slow start, Williams shined in the second half, shooting 6-for-8 from the field overall, 2-for-3 from three-point range and 2-for-3 from the foul line in addition to grabbing five rebounds, which tied Shannon for the team-high on the night, in the final 20 minutes of play. Williams' team-high 18 points was his largest scoring output since going for 19 vs. Notre Dame on Nov. 23, 2013.
Junior guard
Mike Boyd added 14 points while guiding the offense with a game-best seven assists. For the second game in a row freshman guard
Aaron Miller was dynamic from beyond the arc, coming off the bench to convert 3-of-4 three-pointers on his way to an 11-point outing.
Sophomore forward
Terry Hopewell added six points, four rebounds and three blocks to push his season total to 21 rejections, which is the second-most by a player in the MEC this season. Hopewell has six multi-block games on the year.
As a team, Concord held advantages over Charleston in field goal percentage (51.9-48.3), three-point percentage (44.4-31.6) and bench points 21-17. The rebounding battle finished even at 32-32 while Charleston committed just eight turnovers compared to CU's 15.
Aleksander Kesic led four players in double figures with a game-high 24 points on 11-for-11 shooting from the field while also adding one free throw.
The Mountain Lions will look to end its five-game losing streak 7:00 p.m. Saturday at Fairmont State.
