ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball staved off a late comeback attempt from Bluefield State as the Mountain Lions downed the Blues 85-75 in the Concord's home opener Monday night at the Carter Center.
After junior guard
Rob Reed connected on a layup, opening up a 72-55 lead for the Mountain Lions (6-3, 2-2 MEC) with 8:26 left in the contest, BSC (3-7) scored 16 of the game's next 19 points to trim the Mountain Lion lead to 74-71. However, Concord would not relinquish a lead it held for the majority of the game as sophomore guard
Aaron Miller answered the scoring spurt from the Blues with a three-pointer giving CU a 77-71 lead with 4:23 remaining in the game.
The Mountain Lions held the BSC to four points over the final 4:42 of the game. Once Bluefield State cut the deficit to three points, Concord didn't allow a field goal to be made by the Blues until the closing seconds of the game.
In the early going of the game, Reed paced the Mountain Lions as he came off the bench and connected on three straight three-point attempts that span from the 11:30 mark of the first half to 8:58. After the third long-range shot was good, Concord held a 25-11 lead.
With 1:24 left in the first half, the Blues cut the CU lead to 39-33 before Concord was able to finish the half strong taking a 46-35 lead into the locker room.
During the run, senior guard
Mike Boyd converted all five free throw attempts while Miller hit a jumper as well.
Out of halftime, sophomore forward
Terry Hopewell spearheaded the CU offensive attack as he scored eight of his 17 points over the first four minutes of the second half, opening up a 59-46 for Concord. The Mountain Lions held a double-digit lead in the second half until the aforementioned scoring run by BSC midway through the final half of play.
Reed finished the game with 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting including 4-for-7 from the three-point line. Hopewell finished with his third double-double of the season and sixth of his CU career as he scored 17 points and tied his personal-best with 13 boards.
With an assist on a Hopewell jump shot with 13:57 left in the first half, Boyd became the second Mountain Lion to record 1,000 points and 400 assists in his career. The Cincinnati, Ohio native finished the game with 16 points and eight assists including an 8-for-10 effort from the charity stripe.
Miller tallied 17 points and pulled down six rebounds.
As a team, Concord swiped 10 passes, the second time they have had at least 10 steals this season. Sophomore guard
B.J. Hamlet, Hopewell, Miller and Reed all had two steals a piece.
The Mountain Lions held edges in rebounding (44-33), points in the paint (36-24) and assists (18-6).
Bluefield State was led by Dajon Reno who had 32 points on 10-for-18 shooting.
Concord will resume Mountain East Conference play after the New Year on January 3 at home against West Liberty.
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