PITTSBURGH – The Concord University men's basketball team clamped down on Point Park in the final four minutes to pick up a 69-61 road win Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at the CCAC-Allegheny Gym.
With the game tied for the fourth time in the second half, 59-59, after a PPU (10-12, 4-11 MEC) three-pointer at the 4:20 mark, the Mountain Lions (13-7, 10-4 MEC) began to assert their authority on the game.
Junior guard
Kollin Tolbert converted a layup on CU's next possession to give the lead back to Concord. Despite not scoring for nearly two minutes later, the Maroon and Gray continued to string defensive stops together, eventually taking a 63-59 lead with 2:10 remaining after another Tolbert bucket.
The Pioneers were still unable to dig into the four-point margin as Tolbert connected on four straight foul shots at the 45-second and 22-second marks. Point Park finally got a shot go to go down with 17 seconds remaining, but Tolbert sealed the game with two more free throws in the eight-point win.
The Mountain Lions never trailed in the game, but could never get away from Point Park either.
CU outscored the Pioneers 21-8 in the first 10 minutes of the contest as Tolbert gave Concord its biggest lead of the game after a three-pointer at the 9:51 mark of the first half. Point Park finished off a 10-2 run just over three minutes later to get back within five, and the margin for the Mountain Lions remained five, 33-28, at halftime.
Senior guard
Corey Boston restored a double-digit advantage, 42-32, with 16:36 remaining after two of his 17 points. Once again though, PPU came storming back and tied the game for the first time at 48-48 with 10:28 left. From there, neither team could maintain momentum until Tolbert's late surge to propel the Mountain Lions.
With 10 straight points to finish the game, Tolbert tallied 30 points—his fourth 30-point game of the season. He was 8-for-17 from the floor and 12-of-12 at the foul line. Boston was the only other Mountain Lion in double figure
Freshman forward
Kraig Gilbert netted eight points, and junior forward
Rene Diop recorded six points, six rebounds and four blocks.
CU overcame a 38-percent shooting afternoon by holding Point Park to 35.9 percent from the floor.
Concord was 18-for-20 from the foul line while Point Park was just 9-of-15.
Saturday's victory was the 1,200
th win in program history as Concord became one of four teams in the MEC to amass 1,200 program wins.
The Mountain Lions hit the road for a 7:30 p.m. Wednesday tip at West Virginia Wesleyan.
Â
