Game-Tying Shot Comes Up Short for Concord in Loss vs. Wheeling Jesuit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Junior forward Jametrius Wade's potential game-tying three hit the back of the rim as the Concord University men's basketball was edged by Wheeling Jesuit Friday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum in the quarterfinal round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament.

Once falling behind 18-10 in the first nine minutes of the game, the Mountain Lions (20-9, 15-7 MEC)  went on a scoring run of 31-11 run to take a 31-29 lead with 2:46 left in the first half. The run was capped by one of junior guard Rob Reed's four three-pointers. Reed led all CU players during the run with seven points.

Eventually, Concord and WJU (21-9, 14-8 MEC) would be knotted at 33-33 at halftime.

Over the first six minutes of the second half, neither team was able to pull away from the other. With the contest tied at 46-46 CU was able to gap the Cardinals with a quick 10-5 run that was highlighted by two more three-pointers by Reed.

Wheeling Jesuit answered CU's run by outscoring the Mountain Lions 18-6 to retake a 69-62 edge with 3:44 remaining in the contest. However, Concord scored the game's next six points via a four-point play by sophomore guard Aaron Miller and a foul-line jumper by Reed.

Down 71-68 with just 12 seconds left to go, Reed was fouled on a three-point attempt, however, Reed only made two shots. After two made foul shots by Wheeling Jesuit and two missed foul shots from senior guard Mike Boyd, allowed CU to get an offensive rebound to set up the potential game-tying shot.

With 2.2 seconds left, the inbound pass came into Wade, but his three-pointer from the top of the key drew iron as Concord fell 73-70.

Reed led all scorers in the contest with 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting and 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range. In his last two games against WJU, Reed averaged 28.5 points per game and hit 10 three-pointers.

Wade provided 19 points and eight rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end.  Miller tallied 13 points in the loss.

Junior forwards Terry Hopewell and Taylor Smith each recorded six rebounds.

Entering Friday, the Mountain Lions were ranked eighth in the Atlantic Regional Rankings.

Concord will await to see if it makes the NCAA Tournament when the field of 64 teams is announced Sunday, March 8 at 10:30 p.m. The top eight teams from each region will make the tournament.