KENT, Ohio – The Concord University men's basketball team lost an exhibition to Kent State, 89-59, Thursday night at the Memorial Athletic & Convocation Center.
CU hung tough with the undefeated Golden Flashes for the first 10 minutes of the game as it trailed 20-15 halfway through the first half after senior forward
Simun Kovac finished an old-school, three-point play at the 10:38.
But, Kent State went on a 16-5 five run to push its advantage up to 36-20 until a three-pointer from junior forward
Martin Kelly Jr. at the 5:20 mark that cut the Concord deficit to 13 points. KSU built a first-half lead of 21 points before leading by 18 points, 50-32, at halftime.
The Mountain Lions came out of the locker room and trimmed the Kent State lead to 15 points, after a transition layup from senior guard
Trey Brisco at the 18:46 mark of the second half. However, the Golden Flashes scored seven straight points and kept its lead above 20 points for the remainder of the game.
Kelly Jr. went for a team-high 16 points as he canned 6-of-7 shooting and was perfect from three-point range, 4-for-4. Freshman guard
Ethan Heller dropped in 14 points while Brisco added 13 points.
Kovac just missed a double-double with seven points and nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end.
Concord begins Mountain East Conference play against Charleston 4:00 p.m. Saturday at the Carter Center.
Â
