ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team lost 107-86 to nationally-ranked West Liberty Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
With Concord (10-13, 8-10 MEC) and WLU (22-2, 16-2 MEC) trading buckets to begin the second half, the fourth-ranked Hilltoppers broke off an 18-5 run over a 5:13 span of the second half to lead 72-56.
Down 16, the Mountain Lions were only able to trim the deficit back down to 13 points for the remainder of the game as West Liberty went on to win by 21 points.
CU got down double digits half way through the first half, 29-17. However, the Mountain Lions went on a 17-2 run to get within three points, 34-31 at the 5:46 mark, after a three-pointer from fifth-year senior guard
Matt Weir. From there, the teams went back-and-forth over the remainder of the first half with Concord getting as close two points, 43-41, on a jumper from fifth-year senior forward
Lual Daniel Rahama.
The final tally of the first half belonged to West Liberty as the Hilltoppers took a 45-41 edge into intermission.
Consecutive three-pointers by freshman forward
Amare Smith and a backdoor layup from senior guard
Brandon Kennedy got the Mountain Lions to within three points three different times in the first 2:28 of the second half before WLU ripped off its spurt.
Weir paced Concord with 17 points and eight assists as 12 of his points came from the foul line. Rahama came off the bench to pour in 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting. With a strong second half, Smith finished with 15 points. Junior guard
Ethan Heller netted 13 points to join Rahama in double figures off the bench.
Sophomore guard
Jordan Wooden just missed a double-double with eight points and a game-best 11 rebounds.
Both teams shot 46 percent from the floor in the contest. And the Mountain Lions were 27-of-38 at the foul line (71.1 percent).
Concord makes the short trip to take on Mercer County rival Bluefield State 7:30 p.m. Monday night.
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