ERIE, Pa. – The Concord University men's basketball team raced out to a 24-point halftime lead and never looked back as it defeated D'Youville, 90-69, in the third-place game of the 37
th Annual Gary Miller Classic at the Hammermill Center on the campus of Gannon University Saturday.
Leading 18-13 nine minutes into the game, CU (2-4) reeled off a 13-3 run over the next five minutes to take a 31-16 advantage. Junior guard
Ethan Heller and senior forward
Da'Vion Moore combined for 11 of the 13 points.
D'Youville (1-5) worked the deficit back to 33-22, but the Mountain Lions capped the first half on an 18-5 run. The catalysts on the closing spurt were sophomore forward
Luken Hill and freshman guard
Darius Parham who each scored five points.
Up 51-27 at the intermission, Concord led by as much as 33 points in the second half, 67-34, after Heller rang in one of his two three-pointers. The lead remained at least 20 points for the remainder of the game as CU settled for a 21-point victory.
The Mountain Lions shot 50 percent (22-for-44) in the first half and ended the game shooting 47.5 percent (38-for-80). CU canned 10 three-pointers in the contest and owned a sizeable 52-31 advantage on the glass with 18 rebounds on the offensive end.
Eight players had at least six points in the contest with no one scoring more than 12 points. Heller, Parham and fifth-year senior forward Daniel Rahama all had 12. Hill and senior guard
Brandon Kennedy each added 10 points. Kennedy recorded his 100
th career three-pointer in the victory.
In his first career start, junior forward
Jevon Laidler scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds. Moore just missed a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds. Fifth-year senior guard
Matt Weir did a little bit of everything with six points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals.
CU continues its busy stretch of games with a home contest against West Virginia State 7:00 p.m. Monday.
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