ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team fell 92-88 Thursday night against cross-county rival Bluefield State at the Carter Center in non-conference action.
The Mountain Lions (8-2) controlled the game throughout the first half as they only trailed early on in the first half, 2-1. CU saw its lead inflate to 10, 25-15, but Bluefield State (3-10) hung around in the first half, ending the half on an 11-5 run. Concord took a 41-39 lead into the halftime break.
Junior guard
Aaron Miller led the Mountain Lions in the first half as scored 18 of his team-high 25 points in the first 20 minutes on 8-for-11 shooting.
A three-pointer by BSC's Mark Durgan put the Blues up 50-49 with 16:33 left in the game. Bluefield State was able to grow its lead to as many as nine, 69-60, with 9:34 left. However, the Mountain Lions rattled off an 11-2 run to tie the game at 71-71.
The Blues responded with a 13-1 run to take their biggest advantage of the game, 84-72, with 2:14 remaining. Though had Concord had no quit in them. A triple by senior forward
Jametrius Wade with 28 seconds left capped a 13-3 run for Concord. After Wade's three-pointer, CU trailed 87-85.
With the game still hanging in the balance, Durgan made two free throws for Bluefield State with three seconds left to give BSC its final margin of victory, 92-88.
Along with Miller, senior guard
Rob Reed and Wade also finished in double figures. Both players just missed out on a double-double. Reed finished with 14 points and nine rebounds while Wade had 19 points and nine rebounds for CU.
Both teams finished even on the glass (43-43) while BSC held an advantage in made free throws (30-20) and free throws attempted (40-29).
The Mountain Lions owned an advantage in field-goal percentage (48.1-41.9).
Concord will break for Christmas, and will return to action January 4 at Shepherd.
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