Concord Downs Bluefield 72-68 Behind Boyd's 22 - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Concord Downs Bluefield 72-68 Behind Boyd's 22

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BLUEFIELD -

The Concord University men's basketball team combined solid defense and superb foul shooting to earn a 72-68 road win over Bluefield State Saturday in a key West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown.

The win gives Concord an overall record of 7-3 and a 3-3 mark in WVIAC play. The 7-3 start is the second-best 10-game start by a Concord team since 2003-04. Bluefield State drops to 0-10 overall and 0-6 in the WVIAC.

Concord was led by sophomore guard Mike Boyd and senior forward Damien Tunstalle. Boyd scored a career-high 22 points while Tunstalle produced 15 points.  Sophomore guard Thomas Brown and senior forward Gentry Shrewsbury added eight points and four rebounds each.

Senior guard Eric Bailey posted a team-high seven rebounds, with junior forward Nick Ruffin and Tunstalle chipping in six and five rebounds respectively. Ruffin also scored eight points.

As a team, Concord made 32-of-39 free throws and held a 44-38 advantage in rebounding.

Two three-pointers from Boyd and another from Brown helped Concord jump out to a 14-3 lead after the opening 4:23 of the first half. However, the lead would be short lived as Bluefield State responded by going on a 16-5 run of its own to tie the game at 19-19 with 10:05 remaining in the period. From that point on, the game was a physical, back-and-forth affair in which neither team was able to gain a definitive advantage. BSC took a 40-39 lead into halftime.

Boyd's quick start was a sign of things to come in the opening half. The Cincinnati, Ohio native finished the period with 13 points, just five away from matching his career-high, on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor and a 3-for-5 outing from the foul line.

The second half was another physical battle. Tunstalle scored the first six points of the period for Concord. Including a foul shot at the 15:08 mark in the half that gave CU a 45-44 edge.

Tunstalle continued to be Concord's driving force on offense in the second half. With 8:44 left in regulation, Tunstalle connected on two more free throws to give CU a 57-52 lead, its largest of the half to that point. Concord withstood several Bluefield State runs throughout the remainder of the half thanks to stout defense and quality foul shooting en route to the 72-68 win. The Mountain Lions made 13 of their final 16 foul shots and held Bluefield to a 38.4 shooting percentage over the final eight minutes of the game.

Concord will stay on the road to play at Ohio Valley 7:30 p.m. Monday night in Vienna, W. Va.