INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team was clipped in triple overtime by West Virginia State, 112-111, Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference contest at the Walker Convocation Center.
West Virginia State (15-11, 11-8 MEC) made a three-pointer from the 28-foot mark as time expired to down CU (16-9, 13-6 MEC).
Concord had to rally to get the game to the third overtime as it found itself down 98-92 with 3:16 remaining in the second extra session. Senior guard
Corey Boston tossed in three of his career-best 35 points to trim the margin to three. With 2:08 remaining and still down, junior forward
Rene Diop came up with a layup.
WVSU went 1-for-2 at the foul line on the next possession, and with 58 seconds left in double overtime two foul shots by junior forward
Ken Sallee knotted the game and sent the contest to the third overtime.
The Mountain Lions took their first lead of the third overtime when Sallee knocked down a right wing three-pointer at the 3:02 mark to push CU ahead 102-101. A layup by Boston on the next possession gave Concord a 104-101 edge, and the Maroon and Gray led until the Yellow Jackets' three-pointer at the buzzer.
After a back-and-forth first half, Concord was down 38-37 at halftime.
However, West Virginia State promptly went up 53-44 just over five minutes into the second half—the nine-point edge was the biggest lead of the game for either team.
CU quickly chipped away at the deficit with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes that ended with two of sophomore forward
Boubacar Djigo's career-high 16 points at the 10:40 mark. From there neither team led by more than three points until Concord had a 79-75 lead with 20 seconds remaining in regulation.
West Virginia State was able to erase the deficit and force the first of three overtimes.
The game featured 18 ties and 15 lead changes.
Several Mountain Lions had career nights. Boston was one of four Concord players to record career highs. Sallee had his first 20-point game in the Maroon and Gray by netting 21 points. Redshirt freshman guard
Brendan Hoffman came off the bench with a career-best 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting before he fouled out after playing 42 minutes.
Djigo added a career-best and single-game program record 22 rebounds (10 offensive) to go with his 17 points. Djigo's 22 rebounds are tied for second most in an MEC game this season.
The Mountain Lions set a program record with 69 rebounds Wednesday night. Though only scoring seven points, freshman forward
Kraig Gilbert pitched tallied career bests in rebounds (13) and blocks (six).
CU hosts Glenville State in the final regular season game 4:00 p.m. Saturday at the Carter Center.
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