INDIANA, Pa. – The Concord University men's basketball team stymied Pitt-Johnstown down the stretch to pick up a 79-76 win Friday night in the IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic at the Kovalchick Center on the campus of Indiana (Pa.).
Down 66-61 with 8:16 left in the game, Concord held UPJ to 3-for-10 shooting over the remainder of the game. Facing the five-point deficit, CU went on a 7-2 run to tie the game as freshman guard
Ethan Heller tossed in five of the seven points. At the final media timeout of the game, the Mountain Lions still found themselves down, 70-68.
The Mountain Cats got a bucket out of the timeout to go up by four, but another Heller jumper and a three-pointer by junior forward
David Bea Mulumba with 2:28 remaining gave Concord its first lead of the second half. UPJ answered with two free throws, but senior guard
Trey Brisco canned two foul shots of his own with 1:23 to put Concord up for good. Junior guard
Martin Kelly Jr. and Heller each sank two free throws in the final 30 seconds as the Mountain Lions hung on.
CU controlled most of the first half as it never trailed until the Mountain Cats finished the first 20 minutes on a 10-0 run to lead 40-37 over Concord at halftime. The Mountain Lions never allowed Pitt-Johnstown to stretch its out in the second as the largest deficit CU faced was seven.
Heller finished with a game-best 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting. Kelly Jr. scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half while junior guard/forward
Malik Johnson had 11 of his 14 points in the first half.
Senior forward
Simun Kovac pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Concord faces nationally-ranked Indiana (Pa.) 6:00 p.m. Saturday.
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