ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team was dealt a tough loss by nationally-ranked, eighth rated Fairmont State, 77-76, Sunday afternoon at the Carter Center in a Mountain East Conference game.
Down by six, 74-68, with 3:17 remaining in the contest, Concord (3-6, 2-3 MEC) began to mount its comeback. A three-point play by redshirt freshman guard
Brendan Hoffman cut the deficit in half. FSU (9-0, 6-0 MEC) countered with a free throw on its next trip.
The four-point deficit remained until the 1:26 mark as freshman forward
Kraig Gilbert hit his only three-pointer of the contest. CU continued to keep Fairmont State off the scoreboard, and with 18 seconds remaining senior guard
Corey Boston recorded a steal and raced to the bucket to push the Mountain Lions ahead, 76-75.
But with 3.8 seconds remaining, Fairmont State connected on two free throws, and Concord was unable to get a shot off for a potential game winner.
The late rally wasn't the only time in the game Concord had to dig out of a hole.
Eleven minutes into the game, the Maroon and Gray trailed 31-15. However, Concord slowly chipped away at the deficit to get the FSU lead down to 39-32 at halftime.
The surge continued out of the locker room as Concord began the second half on a 9-0 run with senior forward
Amare Smith accounting for the final five points of the spurt. With Concord up 41-39, Fairmont State answered with 10 straight points to take a 49-43 edge with 15:54 remaining. From there, CU was forced to chase the lead until Boston's layup with less than 15 seconds left.
Smith poured in a season-best 20 points as he tied for the game lead in scoring. Smith was 6-of-12 from the floor, 3-for-4 from three-point range and 5-of-5 at the foul line. Boston netted 16 points and added six assists.
Junior forward
Rene Diop was active on both ends of the floor as he scored 12 points, snagged seven rebounds (six offensive) and recorded four blocks. Gilbert just missed a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds.
CU was 21-for-23 at the foul line (91.3 percent) for the game. The Mountain Lions hit for 43.6 percent from the floor, including shooting a scorching 61.9 percent (13-of-21) after halftime.
The Mountain Lions will be off until January 8 when they host West Virginia Wesleyan at the Carter Center.
