ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team fought for 40 minutes against West Liberty, but came up short 91-79 Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference game inside the Carter Center.
Despite trailing by as much as 21 points in the first half, and still facing a 47-33 margin at halftime, the Mountain Lions (9-3, 5-3 MEC) charged back to get within 55-50 six minutes into the second half.
The early second-half run was paced by five points each from sophomore forward
Ayden Ince and fifth-year senior forward
Jevon Laidler.
Over the next 6:27 of the game, CU stayed within two possessions, including getting within 65-63 after five straight points from junior guard
Corey Boston.
With Concord threatening the West Liberty (12-3, 7-1 MEC) lead, the Hilltoppers ran off a 9-2 run to extend the advantage back to nine points, 74-65, at the 6:49 mark of the second half. The Maroon and Gray had one last run in them as two Boston's free throws trimmed it back to a one-possession game with 5:09 remaining, 74-71.
West Liberty regained an eight-point lead just under a minute later, and CU was never able to get any closer over the final four minutes of the game.
Sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert paced the Mountain Lions with 19 points while adding eight rebounds. Senior guard
JJ Harper chipped in 14 points. Boston came off the bench with 12 points while Laidler scored nine of his 11 points after halftime.
Concord outshot West Liberty in the game (44.4 percent-42.3percetn), but was outrebounded 46-34. And WLU had 20 second-chance points to CU's eight.
The Mountain Lions start a two-game road trip 4:00 p.m. Saturday when it travels to Wheeling.
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