ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball dropped a 95-84 decision to Wheeling Jesuit in Mountain East Conference action at the Carter Center Saturday afternoon.
Wheeling Jesuit (19-5, 13-5 MEC) started out hot as it had a 20-6 lead six minutes into the game, but the Mountain Lions (8-16, 4-14 MEC) responded as they slowly chipped away at the deficit and eventually worked it down to 39-31 with 2:07 left until halftime.
A quick 7-0 spurt by the Cardinals right before halftime made the score 46-31 at the break.
A three-pointer from senior guard
Michael Sanchez concluded a 10-2 run from Concord and forced WJU to take a timeout at the 15:02 mark of the second half as CU had cut the deficit to 51-43.
The hole for the Mountain Lions continued to teeter between seven and 13 points as a layup from senior forward
Stephen Thompson closed Concord to within 70-63 with 7:02 remaining in the contest, but every CU bucket down the stretch was answered by a score from Wheeling Jesuit. Additionally, WJU went 4-for-4 at the foul line over the final 55 seconds to win by 11 points.
CU finished the game with five players in double figures led by sophomore guard
Tommy Bolte with 19 points. Bolte also recorded six rebounds and five assists. Bolte hit 11-of-12 at the foul line, the most makes for a Concord player at the charity stripe this season.
Senior guard
Aaron Miller tallied 18 points on 8-for-16 shooting. Thompson (14 points), senior guard
Cam Shannon (12 points) and Sanchez (11 points) all netted double figures with
Sanchez scoring all of his points in the second half. Shannon recorded 10 points after the break.
Bolte and Thompson tied for the team lead in rebounds.
Wheeling Jesuit was led by Haywood Highsmith who notched 19 points and 16 rebounds.
The Mountain Lions will hit the road for a contest against Urbana 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
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