Concord drops seminfinal to Fairmont State

By Concord Sports,

WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University men’s basketball team lost 91-74 to Fairmont State in the Mountain East Conference Semifinals Friday night inside WesBanco Arena.

The Mountain Lions (15-15) got out to a 10-3 lead over the first four minutes of the game as senior guard Savier McCall accounted for half the scoring. CU maintained its edge until Fairmont State (26-4) grabbed a 15-14 lead with 10:53 remaining in the opening half. That began a 12-3 run for the Fighting Falcons.

After trailing by as much as 19 points in the first 20 minutes, Concord made the final two buckets of the first half with sophomore guard Josiah Rickards connecting on a baseline jumper, and senior forward Eldon Terry getting an offensive stick back to trail 40-27 at halftime.

Out of the locker room, CU outscored Fairmont State 13-7 to get the deficit to seven points, 47-40. Junior forward Anfernee Hanna was instrumental as he hit two three-pointers in the stretch. McCall also added a triple to assist in the surge following the intermission.

After FSU ran the lead back out to 14 points, 64-50, the Mountain Lions had one last surge as they got the margin to within 69-60 at the 6:14 mark. However, it was the closest Concord would get for the remainder of the game.

CU was held to 32.4 percent in the first half, but heated up to 51.6 percent after halftime. Concord shot 41.5 percent for the contest.
Djigo finished with his 20^th double-double of the season, tallying 16 points and 18 rebounds. He’s the first MEC player with 20 double-doubles in a season since 2018-19.

Hanna netted 14 points with 12 coming after halftime.

Rickards tossed in 13 points as he has now finished in double figures in all four games at the MEC Tournament in his career. Led by a strong first half, McCall recorded 10 points. Freshman guard Micah Young matched McCall with 10 points.