Late Surge Helps Concord Slip Past Glenville State

GLENVILLE, W.Va. – Led by clutch play down the stretch of the game from sophomore guard Tommy Bolte and senior guard Aaron Miller, the Concord University men's basketball team fought back from a halftime deficit to beat Glenville State 74-71 Wednesday night at the Waco Center in Mountain East Conference action.

Concord improves 6-15 overall and 2-13 in the MEC while Glenville State falls to 8-11 overall and 5-10 against league competition.

With the game square at 62-62, senior guard Cam Shannon hit a jump shot in the paint to give Concord a 64-62 lead. After a defensive stop, Bolte buried his own jumper to extend the lead to four. The next possession the Chillicothe, Ohio native earned and converted an old school three-point play to put the Mountain Lions up 69-62 with 1:00 remaining.

However, the Pioneers would not go away as they cut Concord's lead down to 72-68 after a three-pointer with just 11 seconds remaining. But, Miller connected on two foul shots with five seconds left to seal the victory for Concord although Glenville State would make one final three-pointer as Concord won by three points.

Down 54-47 with 12:14 left in the game, Miller shot Concord back in the game with nine of 11 points during an 11-2 run for the Mountain Lions that set up the tight contest in the final seven minutes.

In the first half, Concord led by as many as nine points in the first eight minutes of the game, but it was the Pioneers that took a 35-29 advantage into halftime.

Wednesday night was the first time this season the Mountain Lions have won a game after trailing at the break.

Miller finished with a game-high 23 points while adding a season-high seven rebounds.

Bolte tallied 17 points, and senior forward Stephen Thompson notched 16 points and grabbed nine boards.

Defensively, CU held Glenville State to 43.5 percent (27-for-62)  shooting from the field, the lowest percentage for a Concord opponent in MEC play this season and the third-lowest overall. Concord held Bluefield State to 37.5 percent on the road and limited Fayetteville State to 43.1 percent to open the season.

Senior guard Michael Sanchez tied his season-high with four steals.

The Mountain Lions outrebounded Glenville State 44-33 with Thompson (nine),  Miller (seven), freshman forward Patrick Eugene (seven), Bolte (five) and junior forward Babe Murphy (five) all pulling down at least five rebounds.

Concord returns home to host West Virginia Wesleyan 4:00 p.m. Saturday.