SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team held Shepherd to 15 second-half points while scoring 36 points of its own to erase a 38-26 halftime deficit and win 62-53 Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference action at the Butcher Center.
Concord (18-8, 14-7 MEC) was frustrated by SU (13-13, 8-12 MEC) in the first half as they were forced into 10 turnovers and shot 38.6 percent, nearly 10 percent lower than its season average, in the first 20 minutes.
However, Concord never let the Rams get out of reach as it trailed by 12 at intermission.
The Mountain Lions came out of halftime determined to earn its second comeback victory of the season. The only other time this season CU has come from behind at halftime to win was at home versus Charleston.
In the first five minutes of the second half, CU cut Shepherd's lead to three points, 41-38, with 14:50 remaining.
During the stretch, Concord made all four shots from the field in the form of a three-pointer each from senior guard
Paul Byrd and
Aaron Miller, a layup from senior guard
Mike Boyd and a dunk from junior forward
Jametrius Wade.
After a jumper by the Rams at the 8:33 mark of the second half, Concord held Shepherd scoreless for the next 8:13 as the Mountain Lions overtook SU on two foul shots from junior guard
Rob Reed with 6:22 left in the game.
The 52-50 lead was the first for CU in the contest.
Byrd and junior forward
Terry Hopewell were each 2-for-2 at the charity stripe in the final three minutes, and CU continued to put the clamps down on Shepherd defensively as Concord clinched the most wins for a
Kent McBride-coached team.
Furthermore, the 18 wins for Concord are the most for the Mountain Lions since McBride was a player at CU during the 2003-2004 season. That particular season Concord ended the year at 22-7.
Miller finished as the game's leader scorer with 21 points as he connected on four three-pointers. It was the ninth time this season the Stephens City, Virginia native has made four or more three-pointer in a game.
Boyd did a little bit of everything for the Mountain Lions as he finished with seven points, six rebounds and nine assists. Hopewell pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
After shooting 38.6 percent in the first half, Concord bounced back to shoot 52.3 percent (11-for-21) in the second half while also shooting 54.5 percent (6-for-11) from three-point range in the second 20 minutes.
The 23 percent (6-for-26) shooting and 15 points that the Mountain Lions held Shepherd to in the second half were both season-lows for a single half for CU.
Concord held advantages in points in the paint (20-10), rebounds (36-30) and bench points (16-8).
SU was led by Austin Cunningham who scored 19 points.
By winning Saturday, Concord matched its longest winning streak of the season at four, and will look to extend it to five games 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when it hosts Davis & Elkins in the home regular season finale.
Â
