ATHENS, W.Va. – Led by double-doubles from senior forward
Terry Hopewell and senior forward
Jametrius Wade, the Concord University men's basketball team defeated Shepherd 79-66 Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference action at the Carter Center.
The Mountain Lions improve to 14-6 overall and 9-5 in the MEC while Shepherd falls to 11-9 overall and 6-8 in the league.
SU took control of the game early as Concord's shots weren't falling.
After two successful free throws from senior forward
Taylor Smith, the game was tied at 10, but Shepherd went on a 13-5 run to earn its biggest lead of the game at 23-15 with 8:03 left in the first half.
CU battled back taking a lead of 31-30 with 1:40 left in the first half after a layup by Hopewell for two of his 13 points in the game.
The Rams scored the final four points of the first half to grab a 34-31 halftime lead.
Over the first six minutes of the second half, the game featured five ties before the Mountain Lions rattled nine in a row to take a 55-46 edge with 9:06 remaining in the game. But, Shepherd answered with five straight points to cut Concord's lead to 55-51.
CU put the game out of reach with a 15-2 run from there to take a commanding 70-53 lead at the 6:17 mark of the second half. Wade led the scoring spurt with nine of his career-high-tying 24 points while junior guard
Aaron Miller and senior guard
Rob Reed each chipped in three points each.
The 17-point advantage was the largest gap for the Mountain Lions, and Shepherd was unable to get the deficit back under a dozen over the final six minutes as CU went on to win 79-66.
Along with his 24 points, Wade added 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Meanwhile, Hopewell's double-double was a product of 13 points and a personal-best 19 rebounds. The double-double for the Columbus, Ohio native was his 10
th of the season and 20
th career.
For the third straight game, all five Concord starters were in double figures with Reed scoring 16 and Miller and junior guard
Michael Sanchez adding 10 points each.
The Mountain Lions held a distinct advantage at the foul line as they took 32 free throws to Shepherd's 11. CU finished the afternoon 24-for-32 at the stripe, led by Wade's 7-for-8 effort.
Along with the advantage at the charity stripe, Concord also outrebounded Shepherd by a stifling advantage of 50-31. Additionally, the 29 boards Hopewell and Wade combined nearly outrebounded SU as a team.
CU starts a four-game road trip beginning with West Virginia Wesleyan in Buckhannon, West Virginia 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
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