Box Score
URBANA, Ohio – The Concord University men's basketball team allowed its fewest points of the season and held Urbana University to a 31.1 field goal percentage in a 67-57 victory Monday night at the Grimes Center in Urbana Ohio.
The Mountain East Conference victory, Concord's second in three games, improves the Mountain Lions' record to 7-14 overall and 4-11 in league play. Urbana drops to 0-19 overall and 0-15 in MEC games.
Concord featured a balanced scoring attack that saw nine players record at least three points with freshman guard
Ali Barnes leading the way with 11 points. The double-digit scoring effort was Barnes' sixth of the season.
Freshman guard
Aaron Miller and junior guard
Mike Boyd added 10 points apiece. The duo combined to go 8-for-13 from the field. Boyd also dished out a game-high five assists.
Junior guard
Paul Byrd and freshman forward
Grant Dickinson chipped in eight points each. In addition to their scoring efforts, Dickinson came off the bench to grab five rebounds with Byrd right behind him at four boards.
Sophomore forward
Terry Hopewell led all Concord players with nine rebounds and two blocks to go with six points. Hopewell's rebounding total was his third-highest in a game this season.
While the Mountain Lions did not pull away until the game's final four minutes, Concord led for 32:15 of a possible 40 minutes on the night.
Urbana held a small five-point lead (12-5) in the opening stages of the game until Miller scored five consecutive points to tie the contest with 12:49 left in the first half. After a defensive stop, Dickinson connected on a three-pointer to give Concord its largest lead to that point.
The Blue Knights kept the game close and briefly retook the lead, 21-20, before the Mountain Lions closed the period on a 14-7 run to take a 34-28 lead into halftime. Boyd and Barnes each scored four points in the half-closing spurt.
Concord controlled the majority of the second half, but Urbana refused to go away and found itself trailing the Mountain Lions by just one point at 51-50 with seven minutes to play.
However, CU quickly put any thoughts of an Urbana comeback to rest by scoring 11 straight points, five of which came from Dickinson, to grab a commanding 61-50 lead with 3:52 to go. Concord proceeded to hold Urbana to just two field goals and three free throws for the remainder of the game en route to its second double-digit victory of the season.
Concord shot 55.6 percent (25-for-45) from the field and 56.3 percent (9-for-16) from three-point range. CU's three-point shooting was its best of the season while its field goal accuracy was its second-highest percentage of the year.
The Mountain Lions also held advantages over Urbana in assists (14-9), points in the paint (32-16), fast break points (9-2) and bench points (32-4).
Casey Baker paced Urbana with a double-double of 16 points and 18 rebounds.
CU returns home for two games starting with Thursday's contest vs. nationally-ranked West Liberty University. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
