ELKINS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team held off a late surge by Davis & Elkins to pick up a 75-72 win Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at the McDonnell Center.
A three-pointer by junior guard
Khamani Wertz gave Concord (13-11, 9-7 MEC) its largest lead of the game at eight points, 67-59, with 7:26 remaining in the contest. D&E (7-17, 4-12 MEC) reduced the margin all the way down to 70-68 at the 2:48 mark of the second half.
After both teams went empty on the following two possessions, junior forward
Boubacar Djigo was able to push the lead back to two possession, 72-68, with 1:33 remaining.
The Mountain Lions went 2-of-4 at the foul line on two of its next three possessions leaving the door open for Davis & Elkins, but still holding a 74-70 edge. On the defensive end, CU forced a shot clock violation that was sandwiched between the free throw attempts.
Up four points, Concord fouled the Senators with 11 seconds remaining, and Davis & Elkins made both attempts. After another 1-for-2 trip at the charity stripe for the Mountain Lions, D&E's three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark as the Maroon and Gray held on for the three-point win.
Davis & Elkins controlled the run of play in the first half as CU did not take its first lead until the 6:21 mark after a three-pointer by senior guard
Savier McCall. The Senators went back in front, 39-32, before freshman guard
Micah Young had the final make of the first half to get the game back to two possessions at the intermission.
Concord opened the second half on a 15-5 run to grab 49-44 lead after McCall scored the final five points of the spurt. D&E came right back with its own lead of 59-58 at the halfway mark of the second half.
But, CU opened the eight-point lead by scoring nine straight that included two points each from Djigo, junior forward
Anfernee Hanna and Young before Wertz's triple.
Young was the leading scorer for the Mountain Lions with 16 points in 22 minutes off the bench. Djigo and Hanna both had 14 points with Djigo adding 15 rebounds. McCall rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. He tallied six rebounds.
After shooting a respectable 44.1 percent in the first half, Concord heated up to 50 percent in the second half, shooting 46.8 percent for the game.
CU tallied 46 of its points in the paint and held a 36-25 rebounding margin.
The Mountain Lions welcome Wheeling to the Carter Center 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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