Men's Basketball Team MEC Champs

Concord University’s Men’s Basketball Team managed to stave off ruin at the Mountain East Conference Championship, coming from behind, defeating Notre Dame University, and claiming their first MEC Championship ever. The final score was 70-64. This historic win gives Concord University a record of 22 wins and nine losses this season, thus ensuring Concord University a spot in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament, which began on Saturday, March 12. Notre Dame, by comparison, falls to 22 wins and 10 losses. 

    Both teams started slow. Fatigue had set in, as this was the third game that both had played in three days.  Concord turned over the ball 12 times during the first half, which meant that they were trailing Notre Dame by double figures for a few stretches of the game. By the second half though, Concord found their footing and their second wind. They switched to a solid defensive strategy. This, combined with powerful offensive moves from the likes of Terry Hopewell, Jametrius Wade, and Tommy Bolte, helped Concord slowly eat away at Notre Dame’s lead. However, senior guard Rob Reed was a major source of Concord’s success. He finished out the game with a total of 12 points scored, including three consecutive three-pointers. Because of this, Reed was named the MEC Tournament’s MVP. 

    In a press release written for theet.com, Concord Head Coach Chris McBride had this to say: “It was a heck of a championship game. Notre Dame jumped on us early and had us down double digits twice in the first half. I don’t think either team played particularly well, but when you’re playing your third game in less than 48 hours you’re going to have some tired legs and you’re going to make some bad decisions.” McBride added that, “Rob (Reed) made two big ones in a row for us to start the second half and everyone just seemed to have a huge sigh of relief at that point. Then we started playing. We switched to the zone and held them to 30 percent shooting in the second half. We had to because Gaiter was dictating everything for them in the first half. We had to find a way to neutralize him and it seemed to work.” 

    Though Concord University was down for most of the game, they never lost faith in their ability and their commitment to winning the game. Speaking to The Bluefield Daily Telegraph, in an article entitled “Conference champs: Concord scrambles to MEC crown,” Rob Reed said, “I knew we could beat anybody in this league so we were never worried about coming in here and who we were going up against.” Coach McBride, in the same article, said that he is very proud of his team and how they performed despite fatigue and being under tremendous pressure. “These guys deserve a lot of credit for what we have done in this gym and that shows what we preach to them, that you have to be your best when you are at your worst,” he said. 

    With this win, Concord moves on to the NCAA Division II Regional Championship. Concord is the only team to beat West Liberty twice in one year since 2008. They hope to add to that in the coming match. Should Concord pull this off, they will be moving into the semifinals. If they do not, then their historic season ends. However, this championship win has earned this team a place in the annals of the history of Concord University for all time.