BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team led wire-to-wire as it downed West Virginia Wesleyan, 88-80, Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference contest inside the Rockefeller Center.
Despite leading throughout the game, the Mountain Lions (12-13, 9-10 MEC) had to hold off multiple rally attempts from Wesleyan (2-23, 1-18). Leading 39-29 to start the second half, Concord watched its lead shrink to 39-37. However, Concord answered with eight quick points, led by three-pointers from fifth-year senior forward
Lual Daniel Rahama and fifth-year senior guard
Matt Weir.
The advantage remained steady until the Bobcats worked the CU lead down to 62-57 with 7:37 remaining. And just under 90 seconds later, Concord's edge was 62-61. Back-to-back buckets from sophomore guard
Jordan Wooden at the 5:47 and 5:14 marks of the second half allowed the Maroon and Gray to open up a five-point edge.
With Concord still hanging onto a seven-point lead after four straight points from junior forward
Jevon Laidler, Wooden connected on one of his three three-pointers in the game to push the lead back to double figures, 76-66, with 1:59 left.
Wesleyan got as close as five points down the stretch, but senior forward
Da'Vion Moore's dunk with 34 seconds remaining ended any further threat of WVWC rallying.
Concord came out firing as it opened up an early 12-point lead, 20-8 on the strength of four three-pointers. CU maintained a lead of at least seven points and upped the advantage to as much as 14 points in the opening half.
Wooden netted a career-high 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Rahama just missed a double-double of 21 points and eight rebounds. The Newport News, Virginia native hit 10-of-12 free throws as he drew eight fouls in the game.
With eight points in the first half, Heller finished in double figures with 11 points. Weir just missed his own double-double with 10 points and eight assists.
Concord shot 50 percent (27-for-54) from the floor and hit on 54.2 percent (13-for-24) of its three-point tries.
The Mountain Lions to withstand 36 points from WVWC's Braeden McGrew in the win.
CU plays host to Davis & Elkins 4:00 p.m. Saturday on Senior Day.
Â
