ATHENS, W.Va. – A late rally by the Concord University men's basketball team fell short as it lost to West Liberty 110-106 Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference play at the Carter Center.
The Mountain Lions (14-8, 9-7 MEC) jumped out 18-14 six minutes into the game after a three-pointer from junior forward
Trey Brisco. However, the Hilltoppers outscored Concord 30-16 over the next nine minutes to grab the first double-digit lead by either team in the contest with 5:17 remaining in the first half.
Two late first-half free throws by senior guard
Tommy Bolte trimmed the halftime deficit to 61-52.
CU was able to peel back the West Liberty lead to eight points on multiple occasions in the second half, but it wasn't until Concord got down 13 points, 98-85, with 6:02 remaining that it started the late charge.
Two more Bolte free throws and a Brisco layup got the Mountain Lions within nine points before freshman guard
Brandon Kennedy connected on a three-pointer with 5:14 left to cap a 7-0 run. Trailing by nine with 3:48 remaining, Bolte scored two buckets, and assisted on a third as he hit senior forward
Jafar Musa for a layup to get CU within 103-100 of West Liberty with 1:55 left.
WLU's Dalton Bolon answered with two foul shots, but Brisco got a contested jump shot to go down with 44 seconds left. Needing a defensive stop, Concord's upset bid was extinguished as Bolon hit a right-wing three-pointer with 19 seconds left as West Liberty hung on for a four-point win.
Bolte scored a game-best 39 points on 15-for-22 shooting while handing out six assists. Junior guard
Jair Rodgers went for 20 points, and making his first start of the season sophomore guard/forward
Malik Johnson added 15 points.
Brisco and Musa just missed double figures with nine points each. Musa grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
The Hilltoppers had 13 offensive rebounds that they turned into 23 second-chance points. WLU also hit 15-of-22 three-point attempts.
Concord shot 60.3 percent (38-for-63) from the field including making 64.5 percent (20-for-31) of its shots in the second half.
CU begins a four-game road trip at Shepherd 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
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