BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team lost 103-88 Wednesday night in a non-conference game at Ned Shott Gymnasium.
Concord (0-3) trailed by as much as 18 points in the second half as it cut the lead to as small as five, 80-75, with 5:31 left after a bucket by junior guard
Kollin Tolbert. After a Bluefield State (3-1) three-point play, the Mountain Lions got the deficit back to two possessions, 83-77, after a layup by junior forward
Rene Diop. But, it was as close as CU would get for the remaining 5:11 of the game.
The Big Blues led 51-37 at halftime and got the margin out to 64-46 at the 15:26 mark of the second half. CU climbed back into the game steadily and trailed 76-68 with 7:37 remaining after a score from graduate guard
Jordan Wooden.
After trading the lead 14 times in the first 15 minutes of the game, the Mountain Lions watched Bluefield State close the half on an 18-6 run to lead by 14 points at halftime.
CU's biggest lead of the game was five points, 23-18, at the 9:33 mark of the first half.
The second-half surge was spurred by Concord shooting 55.2 percent after halftime, and hitting 49.2 percent of its shots for the game. However, CU was unable to overcome 11 three-pointers from BSU and 26 points off turnovers by the Big Blues.
Diop netted a team-best 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting which was also a season-best in scoring for Diop personally. Tolbert flirted with a triple-double as he recorded 11 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Junior forward
Ken Sallee went for 15 points and six rebounds. Senior forward
Amare Smith tallied 11 points and Wooden added 10 points.
CU opens Mountain East Conference play 8:00 p.m. Saturday at Charleston.
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