ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team held off a late charge from Bluefield State as it grabbed a 94-91 win Wednesday night at the Carter Center in a non-conference tilt.
Leading 91-79 with just under five minutes remaining in the game, the Mountain Lions (3-0) seemed to be in firm control of the game. However, Bluefield State (1-2) held CU scoreless for more than three minutes to get within 91-86 with 1:40 remaining.
And the advantage for Concord continued to slip away as a three-pointer by the Big Blues with 38 remaining made it a 92-91 game.
On the ensuing possession, sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert drove into the lane and connected on a short jumper to push the lead back to 94-91 with nine seconds left. Needing a three-pointer to force overtime, Bluefield State had its attempt at the buzzer blocked by senior guard
JJ Harper as Concord held on for a the three-point margin.
The Mountain Lions came out firing as it used an 18-6 run in the middle stage of the first half to build a 45-26 lead with 5:19 remaining until halftime. One of two first-half three-pointers by junior forward
Amare Smith restored a 51-32 lead with 3:03 remaining before CU ultimately settled for a 53-37 halftime lead.
Bluefield State steadily chipped away at the deficit and was within 73-71 with 10:14 remaining. But, four different Mountain Lions found the bottom of the basket as CU rattled off the next eight points to lead 81-71 with 7:56 left.
The lead remained at least eight until the final four minutes.
Smith led a balanced attack for the Mountain Lions as he poured in 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Tolbert helped close out Bluefield State as he tallied 19 points to go with four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Senior guard
Jordan Wooden scored nine of his 16 points after halftime. And in his first career start, sophomore forward
Ayden Ince netted 12 points.
CU owned a significant 47-34 rebounding margin. Harper pulled down a game-best nine rebounds while fifth-year senior forward
Jevon Laidler grabbed eight boards.
Concord shot 47.3 percent from the floor (35-for-74) and hit on 19-for-23 at the foul line (82.6 percent).
The Mountain Lions jump into Mountain East Conference action 4:00 p.m. Saturday versus Charleston at the Carter Center.
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