ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team opened up a 50-32 halftime lead on its way to an 89-67 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
The Mountain Lions (12-11, 8-7 MEC) outscored Wesleyan (2-20, 1-14 MEC) 13-5 over the first five minutes of the game after two free throws from freshman guard
Micah Young. The Bobcats hung around in the contest as they only trailed 20-12 halfway through the first half.
CU clipped off a 9-2 run to open up a 15-point advantage with eight minutes remaining after a bucket from senior guard
Savier McCall. The lead remained at least 13 points for the final eight minutes of the first half as junior forward
Boubacar Djigo scored the final five points of the first half—two field goals coming on lob dunks.
The lead elevated past 20 points immediately out of the locker room as McCall buried one of his two three-pointers 39 seconds into the half, taking the lead to 53-32.
WVWC made a small run and reduced the deficit to 61-48, but Concord responded by scoring the next 16 points in the game and holding the Bobcats scoreless for nearly seven minutes. The run was capped by a dunk from Djigo and one of three three-pointers from sophomore guard
Josiah Rickards who was perfect from beyond the arc as part of his nine points.
The triple by Rickards took the lead to a game-high 29 points, 77-48.
The margin only got under 20 points once over the final 6:22 of the contest. CU never trailed in the game, leading for more 39 minutes.
Djigo finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. McCall netted 14 points. Junior forward
Anfernee Hanna added 11 points and two blocks. Young came off the bench to recorded 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes.
Along with Rickards, junior guard
Khamani Wertz scored nine points.
Concord shot 47 percent from the floor (31-for-66) and made 10 three-pointers in the contest. The Maroon and Gray assisted on 18 shots with Young leading the way.
Defensively, CU limited West Virginia Wesleyan to 39.1 percent (25-for-64) from the field and 21.1 percent from three-point range (4-for-19).
The Mountain Lions held a 48-34 rebounding margin in the game.
Concord squares off with Davis & Elkins in a road matchup 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
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