WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team got a combined 55 points from the trio of sophomore guard
Ethan Heller, senior guard/forward
Malik Johnson and senior forward
David Bea Mulumba in a 74-73 win over Wheeling Monday night in Mountain East Conference play at the McDonough Center.
The Mountain Lions (6-5) trailed just once in the game, 2-0, but had to fight off the Cardinals late to secure their second road win of the season.
Concord ran out to a 17-7 lead seven minutes into the game after Johnson buried his 100
th career three-pointer at the 13:05 mark to give CU its first double-digit lead of the contest. Up by as much as 16 points, 25-9, after a triple from junior guard
Brandon Kennedy, Concord saw Wheeling (2-8) slowly chip away at the lead to get within 31-28 with 2:28 left in the first half.
However, the Maroon and Gray scored six of the final nine points of the half to lead 37-31.
After Wheeling got the CU lead to four points, 52-48, with 12:50 left in the contest, the Mountain Lions quickly heated it back up from the field to lead by 11 points, 65-54, after Mulumba converted one of his five three-pointers in the contest.
But, the Cardinals were undeterred by a double-digit lead by Concord with 3:34 left in the game.
Wheeling pulled within 74-70 at the 2:12 mark, and finished off an old-school three-point play 62 seconds later to get within one point. After WU got a defensive stop, it was Concord's turn to turn away the Cardinals at the buzzer as Johnson made it tough on Wheeling's Jordan Reid to get a last-second shot away—an air ball from the foul line.
Sophomore guard
Ethan Heller led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting—his second straight 20-point game. Johnson added 17 points and six assists. Paced by his five three-pointers, Mulumba notched his second double-double of the season with 15 points and a career-best 14 rebounds.
Kennedy netted eight points, and was largely responsible for holding Reid—the Cardinals' leading scorer at 21.1 points per game—scoreless in the first half.
The Mountain Lions hit 45.6 percent (26-for-57) of their shots, including going 10-for-20 from three-point range. CU held a slight 38-34 edge on the boards, and limited the Cardinals to 41.9 percent shooting (26-for-62).
Concord continues its road trip against West Virginia State 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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