ATHENS, West Virginia - With a pair of home contests under their belts of late, the Salem Men's Basketball got back on the road today for their mid-afternoon matchup. Their opponent was the Concord Mountain Lions, and fans down in Athens certainly got their money's worth. Salem trailed by double digits in the second half, but uncorked a furious rally to take the game down to the wire. Despite the big rally and a career night from Khemanni Davis, Salem fell to the Mountain Lions 100-92.
For the first half, Salem started off strong. Khemanni Davis got things going for the Tigers with a pair of opening buckets, but the Carter Center lived up to its reputation as a tough place to play as a visitor. Concord answered right back and pushed their advantage out to a 10 point lead midway through the period. However, the Tigers were not going to go away that easily. Salem launched their first big comeback, and brought the game to 43-40 going into the half thanks to hot outside shooting from Aundre Bills and Jack Garrison IV.
In the second half, things played out similarly to the first half. Salem took an early lead behind buckets from Davis and Ian Hardy, but Concord responded with another big run of their own to make it 76-64 with about 9 minutes to go. The Tigers had one more push in them, and really put pressure on the Mountain Lions late in the game. Salem got as close as a 2 point deficit, but was never able to get over the hump. Garrison and Davis kept the pressure on even in the waning seconds to make it 95-90 with about 30 seconds to go. Unfortunately, Concord was able to pull away from the foul line, and the Tigers were sent home with a 100-92 loss.
Despite the loss, Salem got a career night from Khemanni Davis, who eclipsed his career high of 26 points with a total of 31 points on the day. Outside of Davis, three other Tigers finished the game in double figures; Jack Garrison IV with 18 points, Brandon Francois with 15 points, and Ian Hardy with 11 points.
The Tigers return home to Salem and T. Edward Davis Gymnasium for their next contest. They will play host to the Yellow Jackets of West Virginia State on Wednesday, February 14th at 7:30 PM.
