ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team outlasted Notre Dame in overtime, 93-83, Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
Some late theatrics forced the extra session. With the game tied at 72-72, senior guard
JJ Harper found sophomore forward
Ayden Ince on the right side wing for a wide opener three-pointer that he connected on with 6.7 seconds remaining in regulation.
With fouls to give, Concord (6-1, 2-1 MEC) fouled NDC (2-4, 1-3 MEC) with 2.8 seconds remaining at half court. Off the in-bounds, the Falcons hit a 30-foot three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left to force the extra session.
Fifth-year senior forward
Jevon Laidler scored the first four points of overtime to get Concord out to a lead it would not let go of. After Notre Dame scored, the Mountain Lions ran off the next five points to open up an 84-77 edge. The closest NDC would get for the remainder of the contest was 85-81 with 1:31 left in overtime. The next six points belonged to Concord.
CU trailed for a majority of the second half after trailing by two points at halftime, 35-33.
The Falcons opened up a lead as big as six points, 56-50, with 9:47 left in the second half, but the Maroon and Gray never let Notre Dame pull away. The game was tied four times over the final 6:52 of regulation that included sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert hitting a jump shot in the lane with 1:10 left to tie the game at 72-72.
After trailing early in the game, Concord bolted out to a 24-15 advantage as senior guard
Jordan Wooden capped a 14-5 run at the 7:15 mark of the first half. Notre Dame clawed back into the contest by finishing the half on an elongated 16-7 run over the final 6:12 of the opening 20 minutes.
Laidler put together arguably his best game in the Maroon and Gray with a career-best 29 points on 9-for-15 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and a single-game career-high five assists. He was 9-of-10 at the foul line and added a pair of blocks.
Sophomore forward
Rene Diop pitched in his own double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds (eight offensive). Tolbert did a bulk of his damage after halftime, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
Wooden rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.
CU crashed the boards for a season-high 58 rebounds as it rebounded the Falcons by 17.
Concord hosts Frostburg State 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to close out the 2023 calendar year.
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