ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team was clipped by Glenville State in an 85-81 loss inside the Carter Center Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference contest.
The game featured seven ties and 11 lead changes as the Pioneers (16-12, 12-10 MEC) made a critical three-pointer with 1:10 remaining in the game to go up 81-78.
A three-pointer from sophomore forward
Amare Smith tied the game at 76-76 with 2:15 remaining before the teams traded free throws on the next two possessions. Senior forward
Jevon Laidler hit a pair of foul shots at the 1:41 mark to get CU (14-14, 10-12 MEC) deadlocked with GSU once again.
The triple by Glenville State came with two seconds remaining on the shot clock.
GSU led for a large portion of the first half as it capped an early scoring run to lead 16-7 with 12 minutes left in the first half. However, the Mountain Lions chipped away and tied the game at 33-33 with just over a minute remaining before halftime on a bucket from graduate guard
Lual Daniel Rahama.
A pair of free throws in the closing seconds gave Glenville State a 35-33 edge at the break.
Concord watched the Pioneers slowly pull away in the opening moments of the second half to lead by much as 11 points, but CU got back to within one, 65-64, as fifth-year senior forward
Da'Vion Moore had a tip-in, three-point play at the 7:46 mark.
From there neither team led by more than seven points with Concord taking brief leads of 69-68—after a three-pointer from senior guard
Ethan Heller—and 71-70.
CU had five players record at least 10 points in the game. Junior guard
JJ Harper tallied 17 points. Laidler scored 14 of his 16 points after halftime. Heller and Moore both finished with 15 points with Heller handing out a team-best four assists.
Rahama went for 10 points and 12 rebounds to secure his 11
th double-double of the season.
Concord faces off with Alderson Broaddus in the First Round of the MEC Tournament 8:15 p.m. Wednesday at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.
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