ATHENS, W.Va. – A
Tommy Bolte three-point play with six seconds left propelled the Concord University men's basketball team to an upset win Thursday at the Carter Center over West Liberty, 107-104, in Mountain East Conference play.
CU improves to 8-15 overall and 4-13 in the league while the Hilltoppers who are ranked second nationally drops to 21-2 overall and 15-2 in the MEC.
The Mountain Lions started strong, leading 22-11, at the 13:29 mark after a three-pointer from senior forward
Stephen Thompson. WLU responded with a run to cut the deficit to 31-25. However, Concord controlled the rest of the first half, leading by as much as 15 before taking a 60-48 advantage into halftime. CU shot 69.7 percent in the first half (23-for-33) from the field.
The Maroon and Gray grew its lead out to as much as 21, 79-58, after junior guard
B.J. Hamlet canned one of his two three-pointers at the 13:35 mark of the second half. But, the Hilltoppers slowly erased CU's lead and tied the game at 98-98 with 3:57 remaining. Thompson's two free throws were answered by Brady Arnold's layup. Four straight points from senior guard
Aaron Miller gave CU a 104-100 lead, but Dan Monteroso connected on a three-pointer then made 1-of-2 foul shots with 23 seconds left to square the game back up.
Concord elected not to call a timeout and put the ball in Bolte's hands as the clock wound down under 15 seconds. Bolte penetrated down the right side of the lane, and his momentum took him away from the goal as WLU's Devin Hoehn bodied him. However, the Chillicothe, Ohio native played through the contact, converted the layup and drew the foul on Hoehn.
After two timeouts, Bolte calmly knocked the free throw to put Concord up 107-104.
The Mountain Lions elected to foul, and it proved to be a good strategy as Arnold missed both free throws. After missing both free throws on a West Liberty foul proceeding Arnold's attempts, Monteroso was unable to get a shot off in the final two seconds of the contest as CU secured the three-point victory.
Thursday night marked the second straight year the Mountain Lions have knocked off West Liberty at the Carter Center. Last year, WLU entered the game as the number one team in the nation.
Miller finished with a game-high 26 points, shooting 11-for-17 from the field. Miller has now scored 20 or more points in five of the last six games. Bolte topped the 20-point mark with 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Thompson scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half, and also grabbed eight boards on the evening. Senior guard
Michael Sanchez also came near a double-double with seven points and nine assists
Senior guard
Cam Shannon did not miss a shot (6-for-6) and finished with 15 points while also being the primary defender on Monteroso in the first half as CU held West Liberty's top scorer pointless in the first 20 minutes.
Hamlet and junior forward
Babe Murphy each provided eight points off the bench with Murphy adding six rebounds.
For the game, Concord shot 61.2 percent, sixth highest in the conference this year for a single game.
Thursday night was also the first time this season the Mountain Lions have topped the 100-point mark this season.
CU welcomes in Wheeling Jesuit 3:00 p.m. Saturday.
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