Concord Downs Mercyhurst, 82-69 - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Senior forward Damien Tunstalle scored 20 points and the Concord University men's basketball team defeated Mercyhurst 82-69 Friday night on day one of the Mercyhurst College Invitational. The season-opening victory was sparked by a 27-12 second half run that helped CU earn the road victory.

Concord had a great shooting night, hitting 59.6 of its field goals (28-for-47) and making 50 percent of its three-point attempts (11-for-22). The Mountain Lions also won the turnover battle, forcing the Lakers into 19 turnovers compared to CU's 15. Concord scored 31 points off of Mercyhurst's giveaways. Rebounds were even between the two schools at 22-22.

Tunstalle, who finished just five points off of his career-high, was 5-for-9 from the field, with three makes coming from 3-point range as well as a 7-for-8 performance from the foul line. He also added two steals.

Sophomore forward Jordan Davis and freshman guard Jake Bischoff both finished in double figures as well for Concord. Davis scored an efficient 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting while grabbing four rebounds. Bischoff provided a spark off the CU bench with four made three-pointers on his way to a 14-point collegiate debut. Senior forward Gentry Shrewsbury added nine points and four rebounds.

Concord held a 31-8 advantage over Mercyhurst in bench scoring thanks to solid efforts from Bischoff, sophomore guard Paul Byrd (six points), sophomore forward Alex McGlothin (six points) and sophomore guard Thomas Brown (five points). Byrd also tallied team-highs of five assists and five rebounds.

Mercyhurst came out of the gates hot, opening up a 10-point lead (15-5) through the opening seven minutes of action, but Concord was able to battle back to tie the game at 22-22 with 7:54 to play in the first half thanks to 17-7 spurt that saw five different Mountain Lions score during the stretch. Both squads traded buckets before heading into halftime tied at 36-36.

Concord wasted no time setting the tone for second half. Two minutes into the period, senior guard Eric Bailey drained a jumper on a pass from sophomore guard Mike Boyd, who finished with seven points and three assists, to give the Maroon and Gray a two-point lead (40-38) that it would never relinquish.

The Mountain Lions extended its lead to 10 points (60-50) midway through the second half before busting the game open with a 14-8 run that pushed Concord's lead to a commanding 16 points (74-58) with just four minutes to play. The Lakers were unable to cut the deficit to fewer than 10 points in the final minutes as Concord cruised to its first win of the season.

Concord is back in action 1:00 p.m. Saturday vs. Kutztown on day two of the Mercyhurst College Invitational.