Box Score
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Eleven (11) made three-pointers by Notre Dame College proved to be too much for the Concord University men's basketball team to overcome as the Mountain Lions fell 86-72 to the Falcons Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference play at the Keller Center in South Euclid, Ohio.
Junior guard
Mike Boyd had another solid outing for Concord (6-14, 3-11 MEC), scoring 19 points and passing out four assists. In addition to an efficient 5-for-8 performance from the field, Boyd went 8-for-10 from the foul line.
Also helping to shoulder the load of the Mountain Lions' offensive production was junior guard
Paul Byrd, who came just two points shy of matching his career-high with 18 points Saturday. Byrd, who is averaging 15.0 points per game over CU's last three contests, went 3-for-5 from three-point range and 7-for-11 overall.
Sophomore forward
Terry Hopewell patrolled the paint to come away with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Hopewell's double-double performance was his second such of the year. The Columbus, Ohio native had his second-best shooting performance of the year after making 71.4 percent (5-for-7) of his attempts.
Concord shot a respectable 46.7 percent (28-for-60) from the field, but Notre Dame (8-11, 6-7 MEC) hit 56.4 percent (31-for-55) of its shots overall including its aforementioned 11 three-pointers.
The Mountain Lions matched the Falcons shot for shot in a back-and-forth first half that consisted of 11 lead changes and four ties. Concord would come away with a four-point lead at 28-24 with 7:38 to play after an opening 12 minutes in which neither team was able to hold a lead for more than three consecutive possessions. Byrd and Hopewell led the CU charge early on with six points each.
However, Notre Dame went on to close the half on a 23-11 run for the remainder of the period to take a 47-39 lead into intermission. Hopewell and Byrd finished the half with eight points apiece while the trio of Boyd freshman guard
B.J. Hamlet and freshman forward
Jalen Camper all poured in six points. As a team, Concord shot 57.1 percent from the field.
Notre Dame, which went 17-for-29 in the period, was paced in the opening 20 minutes by Kalomo Figueroa-Jackson's 15 points off of five three-pointers.
The Falcons scored 13 of the second half's first 20 points to quickly open up a 14-point lead over Concord, 60-46, five minutes into the stanza. The Mountain Lions cut the NDC edge to as little as seven points halfway through the period, but could get no closer as Notre Dame rode its hot shooting hand to the 86-72 win.
The Maroon and Gray held advantages over the Falcons in rebounds (31-28), steals (5-4), second chance points (9-3) and bench scoring (11-5).
Other top contributors for Concord included sophomore guard
Cam Shannon with eight points and six rebounds as well as the duo of Hamlet and Camper. Both players scored six points apiece with Camper also making a pair of steals. Fellow freshman guard
Aaron Miller chipped in five points and two steals as well.
Figueroa-Jackson connected on six three-pointers total to score a game-high 20 points in the victory for Notre Dame.
Concord plays its third game in five days 7:30 p.m. at Urbana University.
