ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team hung on for an 84-81 win over West Virginia State in a Mountain East Conference game inside the Carter Center Wednesday night.
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With West Virginia State (8-19, 4-13 MEC) leading 79-78 with 2:47 remaining in the contest, Concord (14-13, 10-9 MEC) scored back-to-back buckets as junior forward
Boubacar Djigo had an offensive putback at the 2:30 mark, and after a turnover by WVSU, junior forward
Anfernee Hanna went flying in for a dunk with 1:40 remaining.
Both teams went empty on their ensuing possessions as West Virginia State got within 82-81 on a pair of free throws with 52 seconds left. Again, Concord was unable to get a bucket to go with 30 seconds remaining.
On the defensive end, the Mountain Lions got a WVSU miss and Djigo secured the rebound and got fouled with one second remaining. Djigo knocked both foul shots for the final margin of victory.
CU had to lean on the three-point shot early in the game to keep pace with the Yellow Jackets as the first seven field-goal makes for Concord were three-pointers with sophomore guard
Josiah Rickards and junior guard
Khamani Wertz combining for the seven triples.
The Maroon and Gray outscored 16-12 over the final eight minutes of the first half to lead 45-41 at the intermission, despite trailing for nearly 10 minutes of the opening half.
Concord grew the lead to 49-41 in the first two minutes of the second half to give CU its largest lead of the entire game at eight points. But, West Virginia State climbed back in and tied the game at 54-54 after a 13-5 run.
CU opened up a six-point lead, but again the Yellow Jackets came back and this time took the lead 64-63. Hanna pushed the lead back out to six points, 74-68, with 7:35 left. West Virginia State had one more surge to lead 79-78 before the Mountain Lions controlled the final three minutes of the contest.
Djigo finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds for his third 20-15 game of the season. Hanna threw in 18 points.
On the strength of tying his career high with five made three-pointers, Rickards netted 17 points. He finished 5-for-7 from three-point distance and grabbed eight rebounds. Wertz recorded 13 points and a game-high four assists.
Concord outscored WVSU in second-chance points, 23-6, and was +9, 15-6, in points off turnovers.
The Mountain Lions shot 46.3 percent in the game.
CU wraps up the regular season at Glenville State 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
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