BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team led for more than 38 minutes as it controlled West Virginia Wesleyan for an 80-69 win in a Mountain East Conference game at the Rockefeller Center.
Concord (8-2, 4-2 MEC) scored the first two buckets of the game, but WVWC (1-12, 0-6 MEC)Â came back to tie the game at 7-7. The Mountain Lions answered by scoring the next 10 points in the contest to open a 17-7 advantage after a three-pointer by senior guard
JJ Harper at the 14:53 mark of the first half.
The advantage remained at least seven points, and swelled to 13 points, 32-19, on a triple from sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert with 8:54 left until halftime. A jumper by Harper took the advantage to a game-high 15 points, 38-23. And CU still led 47-38 at halftime.
Wesleyan hung around in the second half and was still within nine points, 55-46, with 14:35 remaining. But, the Mountain Lions responded with three-pointers on three straight possessions as freshman guard
Georges Archer, junior forward
Amare Smith and junior guard
Corey Boston accounted for the triples.
After the barrage of three-pointers, the lead was back to 14 points, 64-50.
Seemingly in control of the game—with a 72-59 lead at the 7:02 mark—Concord had to hold off one more Bobcats' surge. Wesleyan trimmed the margin down to 73-67. A jumper from Tolbert and a dunk in transition by sophomore forward Rene Dip took it back to a 10-point advantage as CU won by 11 points.
Smith came off the bench with a team-best 14 points. Boston added 12 points. Harper rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points. In all, 10 Mountain Lions scored Wednesday night. Second guard
Jordan Wooden scored seven points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.
CU limited WVWC to three three-pointers in the game.
The Mountain Lions return to the Carter Center for the first time since December 6 when they host Davis & Elkins 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
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