FAIRMONT, W.Va. – An 18-3 second-half run was not enough as the Concord University men's basketball team dropped a 79-71 decision to Fairmont State Saturday afternoon at Joe Retton Arena in a Mountain East Conference game.
Trailing Fairmont State (16-5, 11-5 MEC) by one at halftime, 35-34, CU (7-15, 4-12 MEC) watched the Fighting Falcons hit 11 of their first 13 attempts in the second half to open up a 64-45 lead on Concord at the 11:07 mark of the second half.
However, the Mountain Lions countered with their own spurt. Over the next 7:16 of the contest, CU held Fairmont State to 1-of-9 from the field and forced three FSU turnovers while going on the aforementioned 18-3 run. Junior forward
Liam Evans tossed in eight of his 15 points in the run while senior guard
Martin Kelly Jr. tallied five points.
With CU down 67-63 at the 3:51 mark, Fairmont State scored the next eight points to stall the Concord comeback attempt.
The first half featured 11 lead changes as the Fighting Falcons finished the opening 20 minutes by scoring four points in the final 34 seconds to take the one-point halftime edge.
Junior forward
David Bea Mulumba threw in a career-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go with 10 rebounds for his third career double-double. Evans (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Kelly Jr. (14 points, 11 rebounds) also had double-doubles.
For Evans, it was his first career while Kelly notched his second straight double-double.
Freshman guard
Ethan Heller added 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Concord outrebounded Fairmont State, 48-30, but had 24 turnovers.
CU welcomes Wheeling to the Carter Center 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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