INDIANA, Pa. – The Concord University men's basketball team built a 19-point halftime lead on its way to an 81-72 win over Pitt-Johnstown at the IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic Saturday night at the Kovalchick Center.
Concord (1-1) opened the game on a 15-4 run in the first six minutes with the early scoring being done by junior guard
Jair Rodgers as the South Bend, Indiana native connected on four three-pointers.
Pitt-Johnstown (1-1) answered with five straight points before a jumper from senior guard
Tommy Bolte and a three-pointer by sophomore guard
Malik Johnson gave Concord a double-digit it would keep for the remainder of the first half.
Rodgers kept up his scoring prowess as he scored 27 points in the opening half—the same number UPJ had in the first half as well.
The Mountain Lions were able to keep their lead above 10 points until the 10:09 mark of the second half when Pitt-Johnstown made it a 60-52 game. UPJ continued its second-half surge as it worked CU's lead down to 64-57 with 8:14 remaining before Bolte answered with a personal 5-0 run to run the lead back into double figures.
The Mountain Cats made one run at Concord as they got within five points of CU, 75-70, but junior forward
Simun Kovac cleaned the offensive glass with a tip-in with 57 seconds left. Bolte and Johnson combined to make all four free-throw attempts to keep UPJ from rallying further late in the game.
Rodgers led all scorers in the game with 34 points as he went 11-for-19 from the floor and 8-for-14 from three-point range. Bolte netted 17 points in the win.
Junior forward
Trey Brisco just missed a double-double as he tallied nine points and 10 rebounds. Kovac grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds including six offensive rebounds and added six points.
As a team, the Mountain Lions had 15 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points.
Concord travels to face Mercer County rival Bluefield State 8:00 p.m. Tuesday.
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