WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team was unable to fend off nationally-ranked, 13
th-rated West Liberty in the closing moments of a 77-71 defeat Saturday night inside WesBanco Arena at the Mountain East Conference Semifinals.
The Mountain Lions (22-7) were up nine points at half and continued to hold off the Hilltoppers (25-5) deep into the second half. After WLU tied the game at 52-52, three straight points opened up a slim lead for Concord. West Liberty quickly closed the game to tie the contest once again at 58-58 with 7:07 remaining. The Hilltoppers' surge continued as it took a 64-60 edge just under a minute later.
Sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert knotted the game at 66-66 with two of his 20 points at the 3:44 mark. And then the team traded three-pointers with fifth-year senior forward
Jevon Laidler hitting a triple from the left wing with 2:34 to go.
It was the ninth and final time that the game would be tied as WLU went up 74-69 with 53 seconds remaining.
After a defensive-minded first eight minutes, the Mountain Lions were first to break off a scoring spurt. With the score tied at 9-9, the next nine points in the opening 20 minutes belonged to Concord as senior guard
JJ Harper punctuated the run with a top of the key three-pointer to give the Maroon and Gray an 18-9 lead with 8:59 remaining in the first half.
The lead was stretched out to 25-13 with 5:22 remaining in the first half after the first of two first-half triples from junior forward
Amare Smith. And Smith gave CU its largest first-half advantage, 30-15, after his second three-pointer form the left wing.
Concord held West Liberty to 31.3 percent in the first half and two three-three-pointers.
Tolbert had his second straight 20-10 game with 20 points and 10 rebounds, his team-leading sixth double-double of the season. Harper added his own double-double with 15 points and 10 boards. Smith was the only other player in double figures with 12 points. Laidler tallied nine points.
The Mountain Lions held a lopsided 47-32 advantage in rebounding, but committed 19 turnovers.
CU led for more than 26 minutes in the game.
At 22-7, Concord will now await to see if it earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will air at 11:00 p.m. Sunday on NCAA.com.
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