INDIANA, Pa. – The Concord University men's basketball team dropped its season opener to nationally-ranked Indiana (Pa.) 83-72 Friday night at the IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic at the Kovalchick Center.
CU (0-1) used four three-pointers in the first 6:13 of the game to run out to an 18-11 lead. Senior guard
Tommy Bolte hit two triples while junior forward
Trey Brisco and sophomore forward David Mulumba hit one each. The Mountain Lions continued to lead the Crimson Hawks (1-0) until the 9:21 mark of the first half when IUP hit its own three-pointer to take a 26-25 edge.
Despite trailing over for the remainder of the first half, Concord never let the lead get past two possessions until a late layup pushed the IUP advantage to 46-39 at halftime.
In the second half, the Crimson Hawks pushed their lead to as much as 16 points, 59-43, with 14:33 left in the contest. Unfazed by the run, the Mountain Lions began their own push in the game. Over the next six minutes, Concord went on a 17-5 spurt to cut the deficit to 65-60 with 8:32 left.
Sophomore guard
Malik Johnson paced the run with nine points while Bolte added six. After trading buckets, Indiana (Pa.) expanded its lead back to double digits, 75-64, with 4:15 left. Two quick baskets from junior forward
Simun Kovac and a Bolte layup trimmed the deficit back to five with 2:16 remaining.
CU worked the deficit back to five once more—with 53 seconds left, but IUP hit a crucial jump shot with 28 seconds to stop the Concord comeback.
Bolte finished the game with a contest-best 29 points on 11-for-23 shooting. Johnson notched 13 points as he went 3-for-6 from the field and 6-for-7 at the foul line. Kovac netted six points to go along with a team-best eight rebounds.
Junior guard
Jair Rodgers went for 10 points in his Concord debut.
The Mountain Lions play Pitt-Johnstown 5:15 p.m. Saturday at the IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic.
