CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team was downed by hot-shooting Charleston in a Mountain East Conference game at the Wehrle Center Wednesday night, 91-67.
The 21
st nationally-ranked Golden Eagles (15-2, 9-2 MEC) hit on 55.2 percent (16-of-29) of their first-half shots to carry a 47-24 lead into halftime.
After a jumper from freshman guard
Ethan Heller at the 15:19 mark of the first half got Concord (5-11, 3-8 MEC) to within 10-8, Charleston went on a 21-7 run over the next eight minutes to go up 31-15 en route to its 23-point halftime advantage.
The Mountain Lions went on their own spurt out of halftime as they hit on their first seven shots to outscore UC 21-9 in the first five minutes of the second half. Concord continued to chip away at the deficit and got the Charleston lead to single digits—nine points—three times. The first coming on a three-pointer from
Martin Kelly Jr. with 11:04 left in the game, and the last coming on a triple from sophomore guard
Brandon Kennedy at the 8:08 mark of the second half.
Down 67-58 after the Kennedy three-pointer, Concord was outscored 24-9 over the final eight minutes of the contest.
Senior guard
Trey Brisco finished the contest with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting. Kelly Jr. poured in 11 points off the bench while Kennedy tallied 10 points. Heller finished one point shy of double figures, but matched his career best with five assists.
Helped out by a 16-of-30 showing from the floor in the second half, Concord shot 42.4 percent (25-for-59) for the contest. UC was 57.4 percent (31-for-54) from the field.
CU travels to Glenville State 4:00 p.m. Sunday as it continues its road trip.
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