WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team surged to end the first half and never looked back at Wheeling to run its winning streak to nine game with a 93-84 victory in a Mountain East Conference game at the McDonough Center.
Trailing 31-30 with just under four minutes in the first half, Concord (16-7, 13-4 MEC) ripped off an 11-2 run to cap the opening 20 minutes. Sophomore forward
Boubacar Djigo got the run started with a dunk off an assist from junior guard
Kollin Tolbert.
Both teams went scoreless for nearly two minutes before Tolbert finished off a traditional three-point play at the 1:55 mark. On the next trip, senior guard
Corey Boston jetted in for a layup after collecting a steal. Another dunk came from junior forward
Ken Sallee with 1:04 remaining, and freshman guard
Josiah Rickards had an offensive stickback ahead of the first-half horn to give CU a 41-33 edge.
CU shot a blistering 51.4 percent from the floor in the first half, however, Wheeling (10-15, 5-12 MEC) matched wits by hitting for 52 percent. The Mountain Lions scored 12 of their 14 points off turnovers for the game in the first 20 minutes.
The Mountain Lions were unable to shake WU as the Cardinals got within 56-54 with 13:52 left in the game. However, Concord rattled off another scoring spurt to separate from Wheeling.
Over the next four minutes, the Maroon and Gray outscored the Cardinals 13-4 as two free throws from Rickards gave CU its first double-digit lead, 69-58, at the 10:01 mark. Tolbert scored nine of his 26 points during the run.
Concord worked the lead up to 12 points, 72-60, after a layup from junior forward
Rene Diop with 7:21 remaining. But, Wheeling refused to go away as it finished off a 16-9 run to get within 81-76 with 2:49 left.
But, a three-pointer from Sallee pushed the lead back to eight, 87-79, as CU won by nine points.
Tolbert and Boston combined for 52 points in the game. Boston netted 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting. He added a game-best nine rebounds. Tolbert was 9-for-16 in scoring his 26 points. Diop recorded 11 points and seven rebounds.
Rickards and Sallee both scored 10 points.
The Mountain Lions controlled the glass with a 41-30 rebounding advantage. CU shot 51 percent in both halves and 51.5 percent for the game (34-for-66).
Concord scored 54 points in the paint.
The win Wednesday sets up a showdown with nationally-ranked West Liberty 4:00 p.m. Saturday at the Carter Center. The teams have combined to win 18 consecutive games.
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