ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team clamped down on Bluefield State in a 61-50 win over the Big Blues Wednesday night in a battle of Mercer County teams at the Carter Center.
Both teams searched for offensive rhythm in the first half as both sides shot less than 30 percent from the floor. The Mountain Lions (1-2) took a 26-23 lead into the locker room on the strength of an 8-for-10 showing at the foul line.
Then, CU slowly started to pull away from Bluefield State (0-3) over the first few minutes of the second half. After the teams traded buckets to begin the half, a tip-in by junior forward
Boubacar Djigo kickstarted an 11-3 run over the next four minutes. Sophomore forward
Kraig Gilbert tossed in a three-pointers while freshman guard
Micah Young put the finishing touches on the run with back-to-back buckets, taking the advantage to 39-28 at the 14:45 mark.
Just over four minutes later, the lead grew to 14 points when sophomore guard
Josiah Rickards finished a layup in transition.
Bluefield State sliced the 14-point advantage in half as a BSU three-pointer took the lead down to 46-39 with 7:11 remaining. However, Gilbert put his stamp on the game as he scored the next 13 points for CU. Included was two three-pointers, an old-school three-point play and an alley-oop dunk in transition.
Gilbert's personal 13-4 run restored a 16-point margin, the game high, 59-43, with 2:16 remaining.
Despite the low-scoring, tightly-contested first half, the lead only changed hands three times as CU led for more than 32 minutes in the game.
Gilbert scored 18 of his 19 points in the second half as he added five rebounds and a pair of blocks. Young was the only other Concord player in double figures as he went for a career-best 12 points.
Djigo was impactful with six points, 19 rebounds and two blocks. The Mountain Lions received eight points from Rickards.
By stifling the Big Blues into 26.3 percent shooting in the first half, Concord held BSU to 29.9 percent shooting for the game. And the 50 points surrendered were the fewest since allowing 41 points at West Virginia Wesleyan nearly 11 years ago.
The Mountain Lions continue their three-game home stand when they welcome California (Pa.) to the Carter Center 3:00 p.m. Saturday.
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