ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team used a 22-4 run midway through the first half to open up a sizeable margin on West Virginia Wesleyan, and never looked back in a 94-77 win Thursday night in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
Holding a 13-10 edge, the Mountain Lions (4-6, 3-3 MEC) used back-to-back three-pointers to kickstart the scoring spurt. Freshman guard
Josiah Rickards connected on a three-pointer at the 12:45 mark on an assist from sophomore guard
Georges Archer before Archer made his own triple a minute later.
After a Wesleyan (2-10, 0-6 MEC) bucket, an alley-oop dunk from junior guard
Kollin Tolbert to freshman forward
Kraig Gilbert was followed by a layup from senior guard
Corey Boston as CU extended the lead to double digits for the first time, 23-12 at the 8:17 mark.
Junior forward
Ken Sallee gave CU its first 20-point lead at the 4:14 mark as he finished off an old-fashion three-point play to take the lead to 35-14.
The Mountain Lions settled for a 42-24 advantage at halftime.
Concord held the Bobcats at bay in the second half, but WVWC did work the margin down to 11 points, 59-48, with 12:33 remaining. However, three minutes later, Sallee restored an 18-point lead on a fast break layup.
West Virginia Wesleyan took one more run at the Mountain Lions as it got with 12 points, 87-75, with 2:06 left. From there, CU was 4-for-4 at the foul line and redshirt freshman guard
Sam Boothe connected on a three-pointer as Concord won by 17 points.
Five players tallied 10 or more points, led by 15 points from Tolbert. He was a perfect 10-of-10 at the foul line. Gilbert finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward
Amare Smith netted 12 points.
Sallee came off the bench to finish with 11 points and Boston registered 10 points.
Junior forward
Rene Diop finished with nine points and three blocks.
Concord shot 50.8 percent for the game (30-for-59), made 10 three-pointers on just 22 tries (45.5 percent) and connected on 80 percent at the foul line (24-for-30).
CU also outrebounded Wesleyan by 12, holding a 41-29 advantage.
The Mountain Lions travel to Davis & Elkins 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
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