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West Virginia State University Athletics

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MBB2324 Thames
Photo: Todd Griffith
83
West Virginia St. WVSt 18-8,13-6 MEC
90
Winner Concord Conc 21-5,14-5 MEC
West Virginia St. WVSt
18-8,13-6 MEC
83
Final
90
Concord Conc
21-5,14-5 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
West Virginia St. WVSt 35 48 83
Concord Conc 41 49 90

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | James Garcia, Sports Information Director

Yellow Jackets stumble on the road against Concord

ATHENS, W.Va. – West Virginia State men's basketball (18-8, 13-6 MEC) traveled to Concord (21-5, 14-5 MEC) on Wednesday night and was defeated by a final score of 90-83. The Mountain Lions secured the No. 3 seed in the MEC Tournament with the win while the Yellow Jackets locked in a matchup with Fairmont State in the quarterfinals.

Mahzi Thames matched his season-high of 20 points to lead WVSU in scoring. Anthony Pittman nearly registered a double-double with 15 points and eight boards. Miguel Martinez posted 10 points, shooting 2-of-3 from three-point range.

Concord held the lead for 17-and-a-half minutes in the first half, but West Virginia State never fell behind by more than eight points. Considering the Mountain Lions shot 55 percent from the floor in the opening half, the Yellow Jackets did well to not let the game slip away.

After baskets were traded in the initial four minutes of the contest, Concord pulled ahead with eight unanswered points. JJ Harper knocked down a pair of threes to help the Mountain Lions to a seven-point advantage, 16-9, on the other side of the 15-minute mark.

State then began to chip away at the lead and came close to changing it around the seven-minute mark. Antonio Carter drained a shot from behind the arc around the eight-minute mark to cut the lead to two, 24-22. After Harper hit a jumper, Kalil Camara made a three-point bucket to close the gap to a single point, 26-25.

The Yellow Jackets pulled back to within one point of the Mountain Lions on three other occasions in the final seven minutes of the first half. The last occasion was when Carter banked a layup off a Bunky Brown steal with 3:30 to go.

Concord concluded the opening half on a 9-4 run to take the lead into halftime. Brown's putback layup with 11 ticks remaining shrank the deficit to six points, 41-35, before the buzzer.

The Mountain Lions carried their momentum into the second half and went up by double-digits, 50-38, within the first three minutes.

State responded with a 13-2 run over a three-minute span to cut the deficit to one point, 52-51, around the 14-minute mark. Nate Mims sparked the run with a trey and Mahzi Thames capped it with a jumper.

The Yellow Jackets kept the score close until the 12-minute mark when Concord kicked off an 11-2 run. The three-minute surge by the Mountain Lions left State trailing by 10 points, 68-58, with nine minutes left to play.

WVSU came back within three points of Concord, 82-79, at the two-minute mark. Thames knocked down a shot from three-point land to make the Mountain Lions sweat.

Thames cut the lead to three points, 84-81, once more after sinking a pair of free throws with 1:18 to go. Concord's Kollin Tolbert followed up with a jumper after letting the shot clock wind down. The Mountain Lions then made 4-of-6 shots from the charity stripe to see the game out.

The Yellow Jackets will wrap up the regular season against rivals Charleston on Saturday, March 2 next. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Walker Convocation Center.
 
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