WHEELING, W.Va- The Golden Eagle Men's Basketball team opened their 2022 Mountain East Conference Tournament with a big win over Concord University 88-84. The game saw numerous momentum swings with Charleston able to maintain their lead even as Concord drained 11 shots from downtown during the contest.
 
The Basics
Location: WesBanco Arena - Wheeling, West Virginia
Score: UC- 88, CU- 84
Records: Charleston (23-6, 17-5 MEC) Concord (14-15, 11-11 MEC)
 
How it Happened
 
Both teams missed a pair of shots to begin action in WesBanco before Senior Lamont McManus got a big boy basket underneath the rip to open the scoring. The teams traded points to six before Eddie Colbert drained a three on the right wing to give UC a three-point lead. A few possessions later Laul Rahama scored a basket and would make his shot after being fouled by Eddie Colbert.
 
When the whistle blew for the first media timeout at 14:10, the Golden Eagles found themselves down 14-9 with four turnovers. The second three of the afternoon, which brought UC to within one, came from Isiah Gable on the right wing. However, the Mountain Lions would start heating up and knock down a three from the corner and a layup from Matt Wier to put them back up 5. Lamont McManus would tally his first point from the charity stripe on the night and another hard-earned layup to cut the lead to 2 at 9:20.
 
The Golden Eagles would continue to struggle to find the bottom of the net as nothing seemed to fall in the half. At the 3:55 mark Tyler Eberhart notched his sixth point after a good post move down low. He showed he could do it all on the very next possession by draining three from the left point to give the Golden Eagles their first lead in over 15 minutes. As time expired in the half Jeremiah Keene dropped in a floater from the left side to give Charleston a 40-37 lead.
 
Coming out of the locker room the Golden Eagles further extended their lead to seven (48-41) with the help of Lamont McManus down low. The senior forward tallied 10 of the first 14 points for the Golden Eagles in the half. A short break in action occurred due to a technical foul on the Mountain Lions that led to a couple of made free throws by Keith Williams and the ball for Charleston. They would again find Lamont down low as he notched his 10^th point in the half.
 
The Golden Eagles managed to stretch the margin to 9 (62-53) with a three from Keith Williams at the 11-minute mark. Lamont would again do his thing down low at the 7:53 mark collecting an and one bucket to give him 13 in the half and 22 for the contest to that point. With 4:44 left to play Jeremiah Keene would find Shaun Monroe for his first three of the night to put UC back up by 10 at 72-62.
 
The Mountain Lions attempted to mount a comeback late with a made three pointer from the right wing by Ethan Heller that cut the lead to just 8 with 2:25 to go. An offensive rebound on their next possession by Concord, then another three by Matt Weir, who ended the night with 30 points, and the lead would be just five. It wouldn't last long as Isiah Gable drilled a three on the next possession.
 
The Mountain Lions continued to apply pressure late by draining 6 threes down the stretch of the second half, but Charleston responded well by making foul shots late and keeping momentum swings to a minimum. The Golden Eagles would hold off the barrage and come out victorious by a final score of 88-84.
 
McManus ended his night with 23 points and 6 rebounds while Keith Williams tallied 20 points. Tyler Eberhart was 100% from the field as he totaled 15 points and 3 assists on the afternoon. Jeremiah Keene had a very underrated performance as he totaled 7 rebounds, 11 points and 6 assists in the ballgame. Five Golden Eagles notched double figures in points.
 
Up Next
Men's Basketball will take on Alderson Broaddus at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday as the Battlers upset No. 2 seed West Virginia State in the noon game on Thursday.