ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team upset the nationally-ranked fourth rated Hilltoppers of West Liberty, 91-83, Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference contest at the Carter Center.
The Mountain Lions (3-2) survived 22 turnovers against WLU's (4-1) pressure defense, and a 14-0 run from the Hilltoppers in the closing stages of the game to pull off the upset. It marked the third times in six seasons that Concord has upset West Liberty at the Carter Center—all coming with WLU being ranked in the top five nationally.
Up 80-64 with 4:04 left in the contest after senior guard/forward
Malik Johnson hit a triple, the Mountain Lions watched WLU scored 14 unanswered points to trim the CU lead to 80-78 with 1:39 remaining. However, Concord calmly sank six consecutive free throws to regain an 86-78 advantage 45 seconds later.
After a West Liberty three-pointer on the ensuing possession, Concord put the game away as junior guard
Seth Brown and junior forward
Mohamed Bundu combined to make fourth straight at the foul line.
The game featured seven lead changes—all in the first half. Down 34-31 with seven minutes left before halftime, the Mountain Lions were able to finish the opening 20 minutes on a 14-4 run to lead 45-38 at the break. Seven different CU players scored during the closing surge to finish up the first half.
CU led 45-38 at halftime.
West Liberty cut the Concord lead to one possession three different times in the first eight minutes of the second half, but a 26-12 run over an eight-minute stretch helped secure the 80-64 lead at the 4:04 mark.
Johnson pumped in a career-best 25 points on 8-for-10 shooting. Bundu finished with his first career double-double as he posted 22 points and 14 rebounds. Coming into Wednesday night, the Largo, Maryland native had only scored 12 points over the first four games of the regular season.
With 11 points in the first half, Brown posted his first career game in double figures with 15 points.
The 83 points scored by West Liberty are the fewest by a Hilltopper team in a regular season game since December 11, 2019 when Charleston held WLU to 73 points—a span of 19 games. Additionally, Concord was able to hold West Liberty 30 points under its season average of 112.8.
CU did it by limited the Hilltoppers to 44.4 percent (28-for-63). On the offensive end, Concord shot 29-of-53 from the field (54.7 percent) and was a sizzling 61.9 percent (13-for-21) in the second half.
In the upset, the Mountain Lions outrebounded West Liberty, 33-26, and held WLU to 10 offensive rebounds—9.5 below its season average.
Concord looks to win a second straight game when it visits Wheeling 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
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