ATHENS, W.Va. – Three freshmen for the Urbana University men's basketball team scored in double figures led by
Shaunn Monroe's 15 points, but it wasn't enough to defeat Concord University on Saturday afternoon as the Mountain Lions downed the Blue Knights, 69-60.
Monroe, a graduate of Fairborn High School, tallied his sixth consecutive double-digit scoring outburst and 11th of his freshman campaign at Urbana.
Freshman
Tehree Horn and redshirt-freshman
Tayler McNeal also notched double figure scoring outings with 14 and 12, respectively. It was a career-high total for McNeal.
Horn grabbed down seven rebounds to lead the Blue Knights in that category.
After Horn buried his first three-point shot just 35 seconds into the game to give Urbana the early lead, the Mountain Lions would claw back and lead by as many as five at two different points in the opening stanza.
McNeal's three pointer with 6:50 to go in the first half would give the Blue Knights their first lead in nearly 13 minutes of action at 20-19.
Back-and-forth scoring ensued with another go-ahead shot made by McNeal.
However, it was a short-lived advantage for the Blue Knights, one they wouldn't see the rest of the game, as the Mountain Lions would go on a 21-3 run over the course of the final five minutes of the first half and the first 90 seconds of the second half for a commanding 41-24 lead.
Concord would lead by as much as 20 and it wasn't until
Mario Lacy Jr.'s dunk before the final horn sounded that Urbana finally cut the lead down to single digits.
Kelly Jr. led all scoring with 19 points followed closely by Ethan Heller's 17 for Concord.
Urbana ended the game shooting just 9 for 33 (27%) from three-point range but was able to convert on 50 percent (16 for 32) from inside the arc.
UP NEXT: A trip to Elkins, West Virginia is on deck for the Blue Knights to face the Senators of Davis & Elkins College on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
D&E (6-14, 4-10 MEC) is coming off a 72-68 setback at Wheeling on Saturday.
