Concord Drops MEC Opener at NDC

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio- The Concord University men's basketball team fell in its Mountain East Conference opener, 86-76 on the road at Notre Dame College. 
 
Concord drops to 2-2 on the season (0-1 MEC), while NDC improves to 2-2 overall (1-0 MEC).     
 
 
After a close first few minutes of play, Notre Dame took an eight point lead after an old school three-point play by Halil Parks gave the Falcons an 18-10 advantage with 14:22 left in the first half. 
 
The Mountain Lions scored eleven straight points after the bucket by Parks to take the lead at 21-18 with 12:38 left in the half.  The run was spurred by two three-pointers from freshman guard/forward Malik Johnson, a three-pointer by senior guard B.J. Hamlet, and a fast break layup by junior guard Brendon Chevannes. 
 
The Mountain Lions extended their lead to 11 after another three-pointer by Hamlet pushed the CU lead to 49-38 with 48 seconds left in the half.  A layup by NDC's Will Voorhees with 32 seconds on the clock made the score 49-40 in favor of CU heading into the halftime intermission. 
 
Concord shot 11-for-19 from beyond the arc in the first half and 19-for-38 from the field overall. 
 
Notre Dame came out strong in the second half, scoring the first nine points of the period before a layup by freshman guard Trey Radcliffe stopped the run and gave CU its first field goal of the half at the 15:46 mark. 
 
The two teams remained within three points of each other until the Falcons stretched the lead to six on back-to-back three-pointers by Parks to give the Falcons a 65-59 lead with 9:36 to go.  
 
The Falcons never looked back for the rest of the contest as NDC maintained at least a six-point lead from the 8:49 mark onward.   
 
Back-to-back three-pointers from Hamlet brought CU within six, 75-69, once again with 5:05 remaining in the contest, but NDC scored six points in a row to take a 12-point lead, 81-69, with 2:37 to go and hung on to win 86-76. 
 
Hamlet finished with a career-high 28 points while falling one shot short of his career-high in made three pointers with six.   Johnson was the only other play for CU in double figures with 14 points.  Radcliffe ended with four points, six assists, and five rebounds in his first collegiate start. 
 
Concord, while shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half, managed to only shoot twenty-one percent in the second half.    
 
Concord continues its road trip in Ohio with a contest at Urbana 5:30 p.m. Monday.