Concord Downed in MEC Semifinals by West Liberty

WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team lost in the Mountain East Conference Tournament Semifinals to nationally-ranked, fifth-rated West Liberty 112-85 Saturday night at WesBanco Arena.

The Mountain Lions end their season at 17-11 while West Liberty advances to the MEC Championship with a mark of 27-3.

CU was outscored 13-2 in the first 3:17 of the game and was forced to chase the lead throughout the first half. Down by double digits early, Concord scored six of the next eight points to get within 15-8 after a layup from redshirt freshman guard Brendan Hoffman.

West Liberty climbed the lead to 20 points, but again the Mountain Lions fought back to within 12 points, 39-27, after consecutive three-pointers from Hoffman and junior forward Ken Sallee.
WLU took a 56-40 lead into halftime, though, Concord shot 53.6 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

The Mountain Lions got the deficit down to 15 points after a three-pointer from freshman forward Kraig Gilbert with 17:50, but West Liberty started to pull away from there.

Freshman guard Josiah Rickards pumped in a career-best 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting. He also went 7-for-9 at the foul line. Rickards averaged 21 points in two games at the MEC Tournament.

In his final career game, senior guard Corey Boston tossed in 16 points to go with seven a team-best seven rebounds. Sallee matched Boston.

Redshirt freshman guard Brendan Hoffman came off the bench with 12 points. And Gilbert made three three-pointers in scoring 11 points.

CU shot 48.4 percent from the floor for the game.