ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team coasted to an 83-63 win over West Virginia Wesleyan Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference game inside the Carter Center.
Concord (18-4, 11-4) shot an efficient 55.2 percent from the field (32-for-58), outrebounded West Virginia Wesleyan (2-21, 1-14 MEC) 47-23, and dished out a season-best 20 assists in the victory.
Ten minutes into the contest, the game was tied at 15-15. However, the Mountain Lions broke off a 10-0 run as junior guard
Corey Boston capped the spurt with a three-pointer at the 6:30 mark. Boston accounted for half the points during the run.
CU clamped down on Wesleyan as it held the Bobcats to five points over an eight-minute stretch of the first half before settling for a 34-25 halftime advantage.
With WVWC still in striking distance, down seven with 18:31 remaining, Concord started to pull away as senior guard
JJ Harper took the lead to 16 points, 53-37, with two of his game-best 23 points at the 12:59 mark. The advantage for CU stayed between 11 and 16 points until the Bobcats worked the deficit down to 10 points, 67-57, with 4:36 remaining.
But, a Harper three-pointer on the next possession ignited a 12-1 run over the next 2:19 of the game to stretch the lead out to to 21 points as the Mountain Lions went on to win by 20 points.
Harper led four Concord players in double figures as he shot 8-for-15 from the floor as part of his 23 points. Sophomore forward
Rene Diop notched a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds as he tied his career high in scoring by shooting 8-of-9 form the floor.
Junior forward
Amare Smith came off the bench with 11 points on 4-for-6 from the floor, and for the second time in three games fifth-year senior forward
Jevon Laidler recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Though only scoring four points, sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert handed out 10 assists and only committed two turnovers in the game.
Defensively, CU held West Virginia Wesleyan to 38.5 percent from the field, including 31.2 percent in the first half.
Concord outscored WVWC 22-7 in second-chance points.
The Mountain Lions travel to Davis & Elkins 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
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