BLUEFIELD — By JONATHAN GREENE

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

ATHENS — It was like night and day for the Concord Mountain Lions.

After playing the up-tempo style they enjoy against West Liberty on Saturday, the Lions faced a methodical West Virginia Wesleyan team on Wednesday night.

The Bobcats kept control of the pace for the majority of the game as they handed Concord a 74-65 loss at the Carter Center.

“You have to give Wesleyan credit,” Concord head coach Kent McBride said. “Their half-court defense _ they were very physical with us. I don’t think we responded. If you look at the stat sheet and it came down to us not making shots, but they did good job.

“We didn’t get easy baskets and they did. That’s kind of the difference in the game. You have to give them credit; they executed their stuff and got the ball down and played inside-out. We didn’t do so well at that.”

The Mountain Lions (10-9, 7-8 WVIAC) out rebounded West Virginia Wesleyan (12-6, 8-6) on the offensive glass 19-8 and had just three turnovers, but managed to hit only 33.8 percent of their attempts. Meanwhile, the Bobcats hit 27 of their 51 attempts and were an outstanding 15 of 24 in the second half.

“I think this has always been a very difficult place to win games at,” Wesleyan head coach Jim Boone said. “They have a great crowd. There is always a lot of energy in the building.

“They always have a very good basketball and they seem to really play well at home. I could not be more pleased for our team to of come in here and got a win against what I think is a very good Concord team.”

Concord missed their first several attempts as Wesleyan built a 5-0 lead to start the game. Cory Willard knocked down two three pointers to keep the Lions in the game early.

After a media timeout, Javaughn Acree-Manuel tied the game at 11 with drive to the basket then Willard hit his third three of the game to give Concord their first lead of the night. The Bobcats responded with three pointers from Reggie Chambers and Colby Wohlleb to regain the advantage.

Foul trouble would send several of the Wesleyan starters to the bench late in the first half, but the Bobcats bench was able to fend off the Lions for a 31-29 lead heading into the locker room.

“I thought the real key to the game was we had so much foul trouble in the first half and we were able to weather that storm,” Boone said. “We had some guys who came in who have not played those kinds of minutes like Tyrell Hill, Taylor Price, Caleb Ashley _ who played a lot for us in the second half because he played so well in the first half _ and Dion Mathis did a great job for us defensively.

“I thought it was really important that we were able to get through the first half, save those guys with two fouls and still have the lead. In the second half, we were able to go back with those guys and they didn’t have to be tentative. They could go full tilt understanding they had three more fouls to give. I thought that was one big key.”

Wesleyan scored the first six points in the second half to open up an eight-point lead. Concord was able to chip away at the Bobcats’ lead and came within two, 41-39, after Corey Neeley connected from deep with just over 12 minutes remaining.

That would be as close as the Lions would get, but they did give Wesleyan several scares.

The Lions turned up the pressure with about six minutes remaining and got several good looks, but couldn’t convert. Then with time winding down, Mike Boyd and Damien Tunstalle each hit from deep. However, the Bobcats nailed five of their six free throw attempts down the stretch for the win.

“You can’t speed them up,” McBride said. “We tried there with about six and half minutes to go. I think they had a seven or nine point lead that they were going to shorten the game. We tried to create tempo with our pressure and I think we did that.

“We got three straight good looks and didn’t make it. They went down to the other end and they executed and got easy baskets. That really was the difference the game. They made us earn everything and we didn’t convert around the rim.”

Boyd led Concord with 15 points while Willard and Romel Kemp each had 11 points. Kemp also grabbed 14 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Wesleyan limited Manuel to 2 of 13 shooting for an unusually low five points.

“Defensively, particularly Raymont McElroy and Reggie Chambers did a great job on their guards cause their guards are so good,” Boone said. “Willard and Manuel are as good of scoring guards as there is in this league. I thought they did a tremendous job with the help of the team. That getting stops is what allowed us to pull out and get the lead.”

Chambers was one of four Wesleyan players to finish in double figures. He had 17 points and McElroy had 16. Kelsey Williams finished with 15 points and Wohlleb added 10.

Concord heads to the Eastern Panhandle Saturday for a tilt with Shepherd.

Women

W.Va. Wesleyan 76, Concord 74

 ATHENS — What started out bad eventually turned good for the Concord Lady Lions. The only problem was they weren’t able to finish the comeback.

The Lady Lions fell behind West Virginia Wesleyan 24-4 in the first eight minutes before leading by eight in the second half. However, turnovers in the final few minutes allowed the Lady Bobcats to leave the Carter Center with a 76-74 victory on Wednesday night.

“We weren’t ready to play,” Concord head coach Kenny Osborne said. “Wesleyan took us completely out of our game. We got back in the game then we had kids who couldn’t make plays at the end. That’s exactly what hurt us.

“Wesleyan made a play and we didn’t it. We went two and half minutes without getting a shot off. If you can’t do that, you’re not going to win. Hats off to Wesleyan.”

With the game tied at 74-all in the final minute, Concord (14-5, 11-5 WVIAC) had several opportunities late including a miss by West Virginia Wesleyan (13-5, 10-3) late, yet they turned the ball over in transition. The Bobcats took advantage and Lydia Bridenbaugh scored with two seconds for the game winner.

“Getting a win is great in itself, but getting a when here at Concord _ as tough as this team is _ is really great,” West Virgina Wesleyan coach Jackie Devane said. “I felt like we could do it. When we came out on fire in the first half, I thought we could pull it out.

“I knew they would make a run, but I didn’t know we’d fold that easily. We were able to pick it back up, get back in it and pull out a win.”

The Lady Lions scored first on an Amanda Smith jumper and tied it a 4-4 before the Bobcats went on a 20-0 run.

The margin would remain close to 20 points until the Concord closed out the half on a 17-4 run to cut the deficit to 41-40 at the break.

“We weren’t ready to play,” Osborne said. “Sometimes we talk a good game, but when it comes down to it, we don’t make the plays. We don’t get ourselves ready to go. Wesleyan was ready.

“I have to give us some credit we did fight back and took the lead in the second half. Last two and half minutes you have to make plays if you have seniors. We didn’t.”

Camisha Alexander hit a three to start the second half which gave the Lady Lions their first lead in nearly 20 minutes. Wesleyan was able to tie the game at 45-all then Concord built a seven-point advantage.

The lead would stay at seven until Joylsa Brown powered through a double team making it 67-59 with 9:37 remaining. Lydia Bridenbaugh answered with a drive for the Bobcats then Danae Hill added a score. An Alexander three though would give the Lions some breathing room.

A three by Hill cut it to 74-71 with less than three minutes left, but Alexander missed two free throws which would come back to haunt Concord. Alexander’s free throw attempts where the last chance the Lions got for points. Bridenbaugh took advantage of that and hit a three to tie the game.

The Lady Lions turned the ball over three times in the last minute with the biggest coming with under five seconds when Anna Truckley lost the ball out of bounds. Wesleyan then found Bridenbaugh for the game winner with two seconds left.

“We took care of the ball for most of the game,” Devane said. “We tried to stay calm and stay with the game plan. I used my last timeout.

“We tried to get something on the inbound play. I told them we don’t need three, we only need two.”

Concord attempted to get one last shot off, but threw the ball away as they dropped their second straight game in final seconds.

“We had some kids go run and hide,” Osborne said. “Wesleyan made plays. [Wesleyan] got after us defensively. They’ve got all these keys they’re supposed to do and we didn’t do them. That’s why Wesleyan won.”

Bridenbaugh had a game-high 26 points to lead Wesleyan. Brittany Maxey had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Hill had 13 while Jamie Kaufman added 10 points and seven boards.

Smith led Concord with 15 points. Alexander and Truckley each had 14 points. Jolysa Brown was limited to 13 points and nine rebounds. Andrea Bertrand had 10 points and 10 boards for the double-double.

The Lady Lions will look to shake off their recent struggles when they visit Shepherd on Saturday.

—Contact Jonathan Greene

at jgreene@bdtonline.com