ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team stormed back from a late second-half deficit to defeat Charleston 106-100 in overtime Wednesday night in Mountain East Conference action at the Carter Center.
Down by four points with 25 seconds left in regulation, senior guard
Tommy Bolte raced down the floor and hit a running jump shot to trim the deficit to 85-83 with 18 seconds left. After UC (4-3, 0-3 MEC) made one of two free throws, Bolte found Rodgers deep in the right corner where he connected on a three-pointer to send the game to overtime tied at 86-86.
Rodgers continued his scoring prowess in overtime as he netted the first seven points of the extra session to push CU (4-2, 2-1 MEC) up 93-86 with 3:38 left in overtime. The Mountain Lions were able to maintain at least a two-possession advantage for the remainder of overtime as it won by six points.
The entire second half was played with two possessions as neither lead by more than four points until Rodgers buried a three-pointer on Concord's second possession of overtime. In the second half alone, the game featured 11 ties and 15 lead changes with the final tie coming on Rodgers' triple to send the contest to overtime.
The Golden Eagles built a lead as big as 14 points in the first half, 31-17, before the Mountain Lions finished the half on a 23-9 run to knot the contest at 40-40 at the intermission. Sophomore guard/forward
Malik Johnson paced the run by scoring seven of his career-high 20 points during the spurt. Bolte and Rodgers combined for 11 points in the final seven minutes of the first half.
Concord built a lead of 50-46 before the game seesawed back and forth in the final 16 minutes of regulation.
Bolte tied his season high with 31 points on 9-for-16 shooting and a 13-for-15 performance at the foul line. The Chillicothe, Ohio native also added a season-best 10 assists. Rodgers finished with 24 points as he shot 7-for-12 from the floor and 5-for-8 from three-point range. In Johnson's career night, he missed just one shot (7-for-8) and was perfect from three-point range (5-for-5).
Sophomore forward David Mulumba scored eight of his 13 points in the first half as he netted a career high.
Junior forward
Simun Kovac scored nine points and tore down a game-high 10 rebounds.
After shooting 67 percent versus Urbana, the Mountain Lions posted a field goal percentage of 59.3 (35-for-59). Additionally, CU shot 58.3 percent from three-point range (14-for-24).
Charleston shot 57.4 percent (39-for-68) from the floor and had six players in double figures led by Josh Floyd's 20 points.
Concord hits the road to take on West Virginia State 4:00 p.m. Saturday in a Mountain East Conference game.
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