ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team surged past Urbana, 69-60, Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game inside the Carter Center.
With neither team running away from the other in the first half, it was CU (6-13, 4-10 MEC) that outscored the Blue Knights (4-16, 3-11 MEC) 13-2 in the final five minutes of the first half to open up a double-digit lead at halftime, 34-24.
Three consecutive three-pointers from senior guard
Martin Kelly Jr., senior guard
Trey Brisco and sophomore guard
Brandon Kennedy jumpstarted the run before sophomore guard
Kam Harrison had a driving layup down the baseline and junior forward
David Bea Mulumba hit a layup eight seconds before halftime.
The first seven points of the second half also belonged to Concord as Brisco hit a second three-pointer to help lead the spurt.
Later in the second half, Kelly Jr. completed a three-point play at the 13:44 mark to extend the Mountain Lion lead to 20 points, 54-34. The only time the Blue Knights were able to get the CU lead under 10 points was on the final bucket of the game for the final margin of victory for Concord.
The Maroon and Gray shot over 50 percent in both halves of the contest and finished the game with a percentage of 60.4 (29-of-48)—a season best.
Kelly Jr. came off the bench to provide 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting. Freshman guard
Ethan Heller tallied 17 points on 7-for-11 from the field. Junior forward
Liam Evans was perfect from the field, 5-of-5, as he scored 11 points.
Scoring just four points in the contest, junior guard/forward
Malik Johnson did a little bit of everything else with team highs in rebounds (eight), assists (five) and steals (three).
Led by Johnson, the Mountain Lions assisted on 17 of 29 made shots in the game. All eight players that saw the floor scored for Concord.
Defensively, Concord held Urbana to 38.5 percent shooting (25-for-65) and to 27.3 percent (9-for-33) from three-point range.
CU welcomes Bluefield State to the Carter Center 7:30 p.m. Monday.
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