ATHENS, W.Va. – Led by strong second half defense and a smothering effort on the glass, the Concord University men's basketball team pulled away from Notre Dame as it won 85-75 against the Falcons Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference play.
In what was a matchup of regionally-ranked teams, Concord improves to 18-8 overall and 13-7 in the MEC while NDC falls to 17-9 overall and 11-9 in league play.
After both teams got their feet underneath them early, it was Notre Dame who made the first run of the game to take a 30-21 lead with 10 minutes left to go in the first half. The Mountain Lions chiseled away at the deficit, but could only tie it at 32-32 apiece after senior guard
Rob Reed capped an 11-2 run with an and-one play with 7:50 remaining in the half.
Notre Dame scored 11 of the next 16 points before Reed scored six straight points to end the half, and give Concord a 44-43 edge at halftime.
The run extended into the second half as Concord scored the first seven of the second half behind two points each from senior forward
Terry Hopewell and junior guard
Michael Sanchez and one of four second half three-pointers from junior guard
Aaron Miller.
After the Falcons trimmed the CU lead to 52-50, the Mountain Lions ran off a 17-4 spurt with Miller starting the run with three triples before freshman guard
Tommy Bolte and junior guard
Cam Shannon each hit three-pointers during the run with Shannon also adding a jumper.
The 69-54 advantage was the largest lead of the game for the Mountain Lions with 10:42 left in the contest.
NDC would only get as close as six points for the remainder of the game as Concord limited Notre Dame 28.6 percent shooting (12-for-42) in the second half after the Falcons shot 51 percent in the first half.
Miller and Shannon combined to 5-for-6 from the foul line in the final minute of the game to snuff out any hope of an NDC comeback.
Miller finished with a team-high 25 points on 8-for-14 shooting while going 5-for-9 from three-point range. Reed (19 points) and senior forward
Jametrius Wade (10 points) also finished in double figures.
Wade added eight rebounds while Hopewell had eight points and a game-best 10 rebounds where the Mountain Lions owned a significant advantage, outrebounding NDC 57-38.
Concord plays its final road game of the season 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Notre Dame.
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