Concord Upends Ohio Valley, 86-66 - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

The Concord University men's basketball team won its second consecutive game with an 86-66 victory over Ohio Valley University Monday night in a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest. The 20-point win is Concord's largest of the season and its third victory in the last four games.

Concord improves to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in the WVIAC with the road victory while Ohio Valley falls to 2-11 overall and 1-6 in the conference with the defeat.

For the second time in as many games, sophomore guard Mike Boyd set a career-high in scoring with a 24-point performance. Boyd, who did most of his scoring in the second half, finished the game 8-for-12 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range and 5-for-7 from the foul line.

Sophomore guard Paul Byrd had another solid shooting effort. Byrd hit on three-of-four three-pointers on his way to a 13-point game. Byrd, who is shooting 52 percent from three-point range this year, has made five of his last seven shots from long range.

Senior forward Damien Tunstalle and sophomore forward Jordan Davis both scored nine points with Tunstalle also collecting seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Alex McGlothin and junior forward Nick Ruffin, who had two blocks and seven rebounds, came off the bench to contribute eight points each.  

Sophomore guard Thomas Brown was the main distributor on the evening, passing out a personal-best five assists. Senior center Gentry Shrewsbury grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

As a team, Concord shot 40.9 percent (27-66) from the field and 41.7 percent (10-24) from three-point range. CU also made 22-of-37 free throws. On the defensive end, Concord made a season-high 14 steals and forced Ohio Valley into 23 turnovers which were converted into 38 points. The Mountain Lions out-rebounded the Fighting Scots 46-39.

Sparked by six early points from McGlothin, Concord jumped out to a 14-point, 24-10, lead over Ohio Valley midway through the first half. The Fighting Scots responded by going on a 20-11 over the final nine minutes of the half to make it a five-point game, 35-30, at halftime.

Ohio Valley managed to keep Concord's lead in single digits for the opening six minutes of the second half, but Concord quickly found its stride on its way to exploding for a 51-point second half. The Maroon and Gray's lead slipped to as little as three points (40-37) before an 18-10 run put the game safely out of reach at 68-47. The Mountain Lions' lead grew to as many as 22 points before the eventual 20-point, 86-66, victory.

Boyd dominated the second half for Concord, scoring 18 points in the second frame on 6-for-8 shooting from the field that included three three-pointers. The 51-point half is tied for the highest single-half scoring output by CU this season; the Mountain Lions also scored 51 points in the first half at West Virginia Tech on Dec. 15.

David Sinickas scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds for Ohio Valley.

Concord will aim to improve to two games over .500 in league play with a win over a formable Fairmont State (8-3, 6-1 WVIAC) squad 4:00 p.m. Saturday at the Carter Center.

The Concord University men's and women's basketball programs will hold a camp reunion when the Mountain Lions host Fairmont State for anyone who attended either teams' skills camps this past summer. Those who attended the camps will be granted free admission to both the women's and men's games as long as they wear the t-shirt each camper received from one of the two clinics.