WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team was on the short side of a 74-71 loss to Wheeling Saturday afternoon inside the McDonough Center in a Mountain East Conference game.
The Mountain Lions (4-9, 2-6 MEC) were down by as much as 11 points, 62-51, with eight minutes left in the game before storming back and having a late chance at forcing overtime against Wheeling (8-4, 5-3 MEC).
CU traded baskets with the Cardinals until a layup from junior forward
Liam Evans got Concord within 68-62 with 3:13 remaining. After a WU free throw, junior guard/forward
Malik Johnson made the first of three straight CU free throws to trim the deficit to four points.
Neither team made a shot from the field in the final 3:13 of the game after Evans' layup, but the Maroon and Gray took advantage of the Cardinals missing some key foul shots while converting free throws of their own to get within 73-71 after Johnson hit two more at the charity stripe with seven seconds left.
Wheeling could only hit one of two on its ensuing trip to the line, giving Concord a shot to tie the game late. After the ball was stripped out of bounds by the Cardinals in the frontcourt—leaving the Mountain Lions with just four seconds—CU was unable to get a final shot away as it fell by three points.
Concord was forced to chase the lead for much of the game including being down 42-37 at halftime. To open the second half, CU went on a 7-0 run to take a 44-42 lead with 17:43 remaining in the contest. It would be the last lead for the Mountain Lions. Though chasing the lead, Concord stayed within one possession of the Cardinals until the 11:53 mark of the second half.
Evans had a strong first half as he scored 14 of his 19 points in the opening 20 minutes while grabbing 10 rebounds to secure his first career double-double. Johnson closed the game well as he matched Evans' 19 points. Freshman guard
Ethan Heller dropped in 10 points.
Both teams shot exactly 42.4 percent from the field (25-for-59). Both teams made four three-pointers, but the Cardinals hit on 20 foul shots to CU's 17.
Concord remains on the road for a 7:30 p.m. start at West Virginia Wesleyan Wednesday.
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