FAIRMONT, W.Va. – After being outscored 16-6 in the first five minutes of the second half, the Concord University men's basketball team used a 19-5 run of its own to beat Fairmont State 95-82 in Mountain East Conference play Thursday night at Joe Retton Arena.
Concord (17-8, 13-7 MEC), which entered the game with a number ranking in the Atlantic Regional Rankings, opened up a 14-point first half lead over Fairmont State (17-9, 14-6 MEC) before the Fighting Falcons trimmed the CU lead to 49-42 at halftime.
In the first half, the Mountain Lions used a 19-6 run to separate themselves from Fairmont State, which received a ranking of second in the Atlantic Region prior to Thursday's game.
FSU opened the second half by ratcheting up the intensity, forcing four CU turnovers and sending junior forward
Terry Hopewell to the bench with his fourth personal foul to gain a 58-55 edge with 15:11 left. However, Concord rallied to score 19 of the next 24 points.
Junior guard
Rob Reed (four points), junior forward
Taylor Smith (five points) and junior
Jametrius Wade (four points) combined for the first 13 points with sophomore guard
Aaron Miller capping the run with six of his game-high 29 points.
With 9:52 left in the game, CU had run its lead back to 74-63.
But, Fairmont State wasn't quite done putting a scare into Concord. The Mountain Lions went up 87-73 with 3:00 left after a layup from Miller, however, Fairmont State went on a quick 8-0 run to reduce the margin to 87-81.
CU secured the win by making 4-of-5 free throws in the final two minutes and not allowing the Fighting Falcons to score from the field in the final 2:16 of the game.
Thursday night was a historic night for the Mountain Lions as Miller was 11-for-12 from the field, 3-for-3 from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the foul line. It was the second-highest shooting percentage for an MEC player this season as Miller shot 91.6 percent from the floor.
Miller aided Concord in shooting as the Maroon and Gray shot 61.4 percent (35-for-57) from the floor, the third time this season CU has shot 60 percent or higher from the floor. No other MEC team has shot 60 percent or better from the floor in more than two games this season.
With 14 points and a career-high 12 assists, senior guard
Mike Boyd not only recorded his second straight double-double, but the Cincinnati, Ohio native became the first CU player with 1,000 or more and 500 assists or more assists in his career.
Boyd now has 1,314 points and 503 assists in his career. Additionally, Boyd moved into the top 20 on the all-time scoring list at Concord.
Of the 95 points CU scored, 48 of them came in the paint. Concord averaged 52 points in the paint in two meetings with Fairmont State this season.
Besides Boyd and Miller, sophomore guard
B.J. Hamlet and Wade also finished in double figures with 11 and 16 points respectively.
The Mountain Lions will travel to Shepherd 4:00 p.m. Saturday where they will try to extend their winning streak to four games.
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