INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team fended off a second-half rally from West Virginia State to record a 96-81 win at the Walker Convocation Center Wednesday night in Mountain East Conference play.
Up 39-36 at halftime, Concord (7-5) built a 10-margin cushion, 56-46, at the 14:20 mark after senior guard/forward
Malik Johnson scored two of his career-high 26 points. West Virginia State (6-5) slowly chipped away at the Mountain Lions' margin to close within one point, 68-67, with 8:09 remaining in the contest.
After four consecutive points from sophomore guard
Ethan Heller, the Mountain Lions hit on three consecutive three-pointers—two from senior forward
David Bea Mulumba and the other from junior guard
Brandon Kennedy—to push its lead back to double digits, 81-71, with 5:02 left in the contest.
West Virginia could get no closer than eight points down the stretch of the game as CU closed the game 8-of-10 at the foul line in the final 1:51 to eliminate any chance of a Yellow Jackets' rally.
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half.
Heller led the first half scoring with 16 points as he started the contest a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range.
The Thornville, Ohio native finished the contest with a career-best 33 points on 12-for-21 shooting while dishing out a career-high eight assists. Johnson needed just 16 shots to get his own career high as he finished the game 10-for-14 at the foul line. The Wytheville, Virginia native added eight boards.
Mulumba notched his second straight double-double with 14 rebounds and 11 rebounds. Keyed by a couple of pivotal three-pointers during the CU's second-half surge, Kennedy posted 10 points.
Senior forward
Liam Evans added seven points and seven rebounds.
The 13 three-pointers Concord hit were a season high as the Mountain Lions finished 13-for-30 (43.3 percent) from three-point range. Overall, the Maroon and Gray hit on 46.5 percent of its shots (33-of-71).
Defensively, CU held the Yellow Jackets to 2-of-19 from three-point range and to 38.2 percent overall (26-for-68).
Concord welcomes in nationally-ranked Charleston who has won 11 straight games to the Carter Center 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
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