BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Wesleyan men’s basketball team lost at Concord 82-60 on Wednesday night. The Mountain Lions outrebounded the Bobcats 52-32 and Wesleyan struggled from behind the arc, shooting 2-15 (13%) from three in the loss.
Anthony Craven Jr. started the game out with a midrange jumper, putting the Bobcats in the scoring column first. Darius Green and Ike Dove got in on the action, leading Wesleyan to an early 9-0 lead and making Concord head coach Todd May call a timeout not even four minutes into the game. Conconrd’s leading scorer Daniel Rahama finally put the Mountain Lions on the board to stop their cold start.
D’Vante Rivera came off the bench and contributed right away with a layup off a Tyler Slone pass. The Concord offense got rolling, trimming Wesleyan’s lead to 19-14 at the under-10 media timeout. Green came out of the commercial timeout and answered Jevon Laidler’s layup with one of his own to keep the lead at five.
CU cut it to 26-24 at the under-5 media timeout after getting a pair of fast-break opportunities. Rene Diop gave the Mountain Lions their first lead of the game on a dunk with four minutes left in the half. Both teams went dry in the final minutes but Dove converted once again down low to tie it at 30 going into the locker room.
Concord opened the second half up on a 12-4 run in the first four and a half minutes. The Bobcats fell down 19 with their cold shooting and CU’s shooting surge. Wesleyan’s four-minute scoring drought ended with a 7-0 run to cut the Mountain Lions lead to 59-47.
JJ Harper knocked down a three right before the under-10 media timeout, putting Concord back up 15. Both teams stayed steady on offense after the timeout as Concord led 69-56 going into the final five minutes of the game. Concord closed the game outscoring Wesleyan 13-4 to take the win.
The Mountain Lions had four scorers reach double-figures, led by Harper’s 18 points. Diop was one of two CU players to get a double-double as he scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Rahama was the other, finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Dove led the Bobcats with 14 points. Craven Jr. added 11 points. Kabe Ellis dished out a career-high 11 assists and Green pulled down eight rebounds in the loss.
Wesleyan will be home this Saturday as they welcome Glenville State inside Rockefeller Center at 4 p.m. for Senior Day.
