Concord men's basketball holds off West Virginia State, 90-83
Feb. 28—ATHENS — The Concord University men's basketball team held off West Virginia State for a 90-83 win Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
The Mountain Lions (21-5, 14-5 MEC) led for more than 37 minutes, but had to weather a handful of West Virginia State (18-8, 13-6 MEC) rallies in the second half.
Up 41-35 at halftime, Concord immediately came out of the intermission and scored nine of the first 12 points to go up 12, 50-38, at the 17:25 mark as a layup from sophomore guard Kollin Tolbert equaled CU's largest lead of the game.
West Virginia State responded by cracking off a 13-2 run to get within one, 52-51, with 13:52 remaining in the game. However, a three-pointer by fifth-year senior forward Jevon Laidler just under a minute later stemmed the tide.
Clinging to a 57-56 lead with 12:08 left, Concord held WVSU to two points over the next three minutes of the game as a layup from sophomore forward Ayden Ince pushed the lead back to double digits, 68-58, with 8:58 left. It was the first of consecutive buckets for Ince.
Now up seven points with 5:50 left, senior guard JJ Harper hammered a dunk on a backdoor cut down the left baseline on a bounce pass from Laidler to push the lead with back to 78-69. The Yellow Jackets were quick to respond with a three-pointer nine seconds after the Harper flush.
That began a 10-4 run for WVSU that saw it get within 82-79 with 2:01 left. But, on the next Concord trip a lob dunk from Tolbert to sophomore forward Rene Diop gave the Mountain Lions the cushion it needed to finish off the win.
All five lead changes and three ties came in the first four minutes of the game as CU ripped off seven straight points to lead 16-9 at the 14:41 mark, though it could never completely get away from WVSU in the first half.
Harper scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes of the game on his way to a season-high 28 points as he shot 9-for-15 from field. He also recorded seven rebounds and three blocks. Tolbert heated up in the second half, scoring 11 of his 16 points after the intermission.
Diop was a rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine boards. Laidler and junior forward Amare Smith both tallied 10 points in the game. Laidler collected six rebounds and matched Tolbert for the team lead in assists with five.
The Mountain Lions shot 51.6 percent (29-for-66) in the game, including 55.2 percent in the first half. CU owned a 44-33 rebounding margin.
Concord closes out the regular season at Glenville State 4 p.m. Saturday.
Wes McKinney
