ATHENS, W.Va- The Concord University men's basketball team fell 93-90 to Winston-Salem State in the final game of the MEC-CIAA Challenge on Saturday evening at the Carter Center.
Concord falls to 1-1 on the season while Winston-Salem State improves to 1-1 on the year.
A tightly contested first half saw 10 lead changes between the two teams. The Mountain Lions jumped out to a 7-2 lead behind layups from senior forward
Stephen Thompson and seniro guard
Michael Sanchez, and a jump shot by junior guard
Aaron Miller. Neither team led by more than four points until 1:16 mark in the first half after sophomore
Tommy Bolte sank a pair of free throws to give the Mountain Lions a 44-37 lead. A 5-0 run by WSSU over the remainder of the half kept the score close with CU holding a narrow 44-42 advantage heading into halftime.
The Mountain Lions saw the lead extend to double digits with 11:36 left in the second half after senior forward
Stephen Thompson slammed home a dunk which was then followed by a three pointer by Miller to give CU a 58-47 advantage.
WSSU closed the gap to within three, 73-70, with 2:43 to play after Carlos Ranks made one of two shots from the charity strie. The Rams would eventually take the lead with 58 seconds to play after Robert Colon converted a free throw to give the Rams a slim 77-76 lead.
After a foul by WSSU, freshman forward
Mike Hall converted a free throw to even the game at 77-77 with three seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Thompson gave Concord an early lead in the overtime period after grabbing an offensive rebound and subsequent put back to give CU a 79-77 lead with 4:09 remaining. However, WSSU took a five-point lead after Ranks hit another three for the Rams with 1:31 left in the contest to set the score at 88-83.
Thompson converted a three-point play with 1:10 left to make the score 88-86. Hall added another free throw with 32 seconds left in the game to cut the lead to just one for WSSU.
After the Rams converted a pair of free throws, Thompson found himself open at the top of the key and made a three-point shot with just 13 seconds left to play.
After a timeout, WSSU managed a last second three-pointer with just 0.4 left from Colon to seal a 93-90 victory.
Thompson finished the game with a career-high 29 points while adding nine rebounds. Miller added 24 points on an efficient 10-of-18 shooting. Bolte also added a career-high 13 points to round out the Mountain Lions who scored in double figures.
Concord will play on Tuesday on the road at Alderson-Broaddus. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
