ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team lost in heartbreak fashion to Fairmont State Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game as the Fighting Falcons came away with a 93-83 win in overtime.
FSU's Andrew Emrick hit a shot just inside halfcourt as time expired to tie the game at 77-77. Fairmont State (11-3, 8-0 MEC) scored the first eight points of overtime as it pulled away for a 10-point win. It appeared the Mountain Lions (9-4, 5-3 MEC) were closing in on a win over FSU as they went up 75-69 with 1:09 remaining in the second half after junior guard
Jair Rodgers knocked in one of his four three-pointers in the contest.
Fairmont State countered with five straight points to get within 75-74 before senior guard
Tommy Bolte gave CU a 77-74 edge with two makes at the foul line with 2.8 seconds remaining in regulation. On the ensuing inbound, Emrick would hit the game-tying shot.
After being down by four at halftime, 35-31, Concord watched FSU extend its lead to eight, 42-34, with 17:24 left in the contest. But, the Mountain Lions ripped off a 22-5 run to take a 56-49 advantage with 10:07 remaining in the game. Five different Mountain Lions chipped into the run with Bolte scoring 13 and junior forward
Simun Kovac adding four of his eight points.
Concord maintained the lead for much of the remaining 10 minutes of the game, only trailing by one point on three occasions for the remainder of regulation before Emrick's shot.
After scoring 42 points on Thursday, Bolte tallied 36 points on 11-for-20 shooting and an 11-for-12 showing at the foul line. Rodgers added 19 points and tied his career best with seven rebounds. Sophomore forward
David Bea Mulumba also finished in double figures with 10 points.
Kovac just missed a double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds.
CU starts a three-game road trip at Wheeling Jesuit 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
