Box Score ATHENS, W. Va. – Sophomore forward
Terry Hopewell recorded a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds, but the Concord University men's basketball team couldn't quite pull off the upset Saturday afternoon as Shepherd University defeated the Mountain Lions, 89-75, in Mountain East Conference play at the Carter Center.
Hopewell's double-double was his third in the last seven games and fourth on the season. The 13 rebounds tied a season-high while his 20 points was one shy of matching his previous personal-best; a 21-point performance vs. Glenville State earlier in the year.
Concord (8-17, 5-14 MEC) placed three other players in double figures Saturday with junior guard
Mike Boyd adding 11 and the duo of junior guard
Paul Byrd and freshman forward
Jalen Camper scoring 10 apiece. Camper also tallied six rebounds off the bench.
In addition to his scoring output, Boyd passed out a team-best five assists to move into 10th place all-time at Concord in career assists. He now needs 38 assists to move into ninth place ahead of Kelly Mann (1996-98 / 383).
In a game that did not see its first basket for over two minutes, the Mountain Lions and Rams (18-7, 13-6 MEC) traded buckets for the opening half of the first period with Shepherd coming out of the back-and-forth action leading by three points at 14-11 with 9:53 remaining in the period. The Rams proceeded to close the half on a 20-13 run to take a 10-point lead into halftime.
Shepherd built its lead up to 14 points (44-30) over the opening five minutes of the second half before Concord answered with a 19-11 run of its own to cut its deficit in half to 55-49 with 10 minutes remaining in regulation. The run was sparked by six points from Hopewell as well as three-pointers from Byrd, Camper and freshman guard
Aaron Miller.
However, the Rams went on to score 11 of the game's next 13 points in just over two minutes to take a commanding 15-point lead that Concord was unable to overcome in the Rams' eventual 89-75 victory.Â
Miller and sophomore guard
Cam Shannon finished with nine and six points, respectively. Shannon also pulled down six rebounds, marking his ninth game of the year in which he has had at least five rebounds.
As a team, Concord held a +13 rebounding margin over the Rams (38-25), its second –best margin of the season. The Mountain Lions also bettered Shepherd in bench scoring (22-19) and second chance points (15-2). For the game, CU shot 46 percent (29-for-63) from the field.
Shepherd was led by Naim Muhammad, who scored 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting. The Rams connected on 58.9 percent (33-for-56) of its field goals.
The Mountain Lions will return to action 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night for their final road game of the regular season at the University of Charleston.
