INDIANA, Pa. – The Concord University men's basketball team was clipped by Pitt-Johnstown as CU fell 79-75 Saturday night as part of the Hilton Garden Inn Classic hosted by Indiana (Pa.) at Memorial Fieldhouse.
UPJ (1-1) took a one-point lead into the halftime break as the Mountain Cats beat the first-half buzzer with a stick back layup.
Neither team could get away from the other in the final 20 minutes. Sophomore guard
Josiah Rickards pushed Concord (0-2) up 49-45 after a layup at the 16:42 mark of the second half. But, it was answered by Pitt-Johnstown cracking off a small 9-4 run over the next four minutes.
Over the next nine minutes, the largest lead either team built was four until UPJ went up 76-71 with 3:18 remaining. The next four points belonged to the Mountain Lions with sophomore forward
Kraig Gilbert working the deficit down to 76-75 with 1:16 left.
After a Pitt-Johnstown turnover, Concord had a chance to take its first lead in nearly five minutes, but the Mountain Lions came up empty, and UPJ closed the game out at the foul line.
CU scored seven of the first nine points as sophomore guard
Cole Lambert capped the early offense with a three-pointer. The Mountain Cats answered with a lengthy 21-4 run that allowed UPJ to grab a 23-12 lead. But, the Mountain Lions slowly worked their way back into the game, and took a 36-35 edge on a layup by freshman
Micah Young with 2:40 left in the opening half.
Gilbert was efficient in scoring 22 points (9-for-12 shooting) while grabbing 11 rebounds. He was responsible for three of CU's five three-pointers. Rickards finished with 18 points as he shot 9-of-10 at the foul line. ann
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Junior forward
Anfernee Hanna netted 13 points and Young added a career-best 10 points off the bench in just 16 minutes. Junior forward
Boubacar Djigo just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
The Mountain Lions open the home portion of their schedule 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against Mercer County rival Bluefield State
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