MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The Concord University men's basketball team could not hold onto a 40-33 halftime lead as Barton grabbed an 87-83 win from Concord Friday at the 54
th Pickle Classic at the University of Mount Olive.
Junior guard/forward
Malik Johnson and senior forward
Simun Kovac combined for half of the first-half points as each player scored 10 apiece in the first half. But the bigger story of the 20 minutes was CU (2-2) holding Barton (1-3) to 32.5 percent shooting (13-for-40) and 15.4 percent from three-point range (2-for-13).
The Mountain Lions continued to hold the advantage until BC tied the game at 50-50 at the 11:48 mark of the second half. Over the next seven minutes, the game featured two lead changes and four ties with neither leading by more than four points.
Junior forward
Liam Evans' driving layup with five minutes left in the game tied the game at 69-69. However, the Bulldogs scored five straight points over the next 67 seconds to build their largest lead of the game to that point.
Concord got down by as much as eight points with 2:31 left in the contest, and was only able to cut the deficit to four points, 84-80, with 19 seconds left after a Kovac layup.
Kovac paced the Mountain Lions with 16 points and seven rebounds as he went 5-for-6 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
Senior forward
Martin Kelly Jr. provided a spark off the bench as he scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Johnson finished with 12 points while Evans added 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting.
CU shot 45.3 percent (29-for-64) from the field while Barton shot 44.3 percent (31-for-70) including 60 percent (18-for-30) in the second half.
Concord takes on host Mount Olive 7:00 p.m. Saturday.
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