Concord Looks for Sweep of Bluefield

RECORDS
• Concord enters the game with an overall record of 5-4 on the season including a Mountain East Conference mark of 2-2. The Mountain Lions have won three of their last five games.

• Losers of four out of its last six games, Bluefield State is 3-9 on the season and in need of a win over its Mercer county rival.

ALL-TIME SERIES
• The Mountain Lions hold a 52-34 lead over the Big Blues in the all-time series. Concord is on a five-game winning streak against Bluefield State and have won eight out of the last 10 contests overall.

• Concord's last victory over BSC came earlier this season on Nov. 18 at the Carter Center when junior guard A.J. Williams hit a last-second shot to give CU an 81-78 victory.

• Williams led all scorers with 26 points in addition to grabbing eight rebounds while junior guard Mike Boyd added 19 points and five assists. Sophomore forward Terry Hopewell patrolled the paint and ended the game with six blocks.

THE COACHES
• Kent McBride is in his third season as head coach of Concord University. During his time in Athens, McBride, who also starred on the hardwood as a player at CU, has compiled a record of 38-27. For his career, McBride is 5-0 against Bluefield State.

• Jamaal Jackson is 8-58 in three seasons at Bluefield State. An alumnus of Kentucky State, Jackson served as an assistant coach at Stillman College for three seasons prior to taking the head job at Bluefield State.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• Having made 145-of-192 attempts, Concord is the best free throw shooting team in the MEC at 75.5 percent.

• Of the six CU players to have attempted at least 10 foul shots this year, five have made at least 78 percent of their attempts. Freshman guard Jalen Camper is a perfect 12-for-12 from the line followed by Williams (83.3 percent / 20-for-24), sophomore guard Cam Shannon (81.3 percent / 13-for-16), Boyd (78.6 percent / 44-for-56) and freshman guard Ali Barnes (78.6 percent / 11-for-14).

• The Mountain Lions also rank fifth in the league in points allowed at 76.0 points per game (ppg).

• Concord is coming off of a split of Mountain East Conference games against Glenville State and West Virginia Wesleyan. CU defeated Glenville State at home on Dec. 5, 83-71, before falling Dec. 7 at Wesleyan, 81-65.

• Leading Concord to its double-digit victory over Glenville State was freshman guard B.J. Hamlet and Hopewell. Hamlet knocked down seven three-pointers on his way to a career-high 25 points with Hopewell close behind at 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field.

• Since stepping into the starting lineup three games ago, Hamlet has averaged 15.0 ppg thanks to a 56.7 (17-for-30) field goal percentage and an even more impressive 57.9 (11-for-19) three-point percentage. For the year, Hamlet ranks fifth in the MEC in three-point shooting at 47.2 percent (17-for-36).

• As a team, Concord boasted a field goal percentage of 57.1 vs. GSC, its best since connecting on 59.6 percent of its attempts vs. Mercyhurst in its season-opening win a year ago.

• The Maroon and Gray recorded assists on 26 of 32 shots against the Pioneers. Leading the distribution was Boyd with 11 assists, Shannon with six and Williams with five.

• Boyd has shined over his career against Bluefield State. In five games vs. the Big Blues, he is averaging 14.4 points, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. For the season, Boyd leads Concord in ppg (14.4), field goal percentage (52.6 percent), free throws made (44 / 4.9 per game), assists (4.7 apg), steals (1.2 spg) and minutes played per game (33.8).

• After shooting just 34.3 percent (11-for-32) from the field and scoring 5.2 ppg in CU's first six games of the season, Shannon has begun to find his offensive groove over Concord's last three games by shooting 50 percent (13-for-26) and scoring 12.7 points a contest. Shannon has also collected 14 rebounds in the last three contests in contrast to just seven in his first six games of 2013-14.

• Most recently, Shannon scored a career-high 18 points in Concord's loss at West Virginia Wesleyan.

• Hopewell's 15 blocks are the most by any player in the MEC this season.

SCOUTING BLUEFIELD STATE
• The Big Blues have been led through the opening part of their season by the duo of Shakier Dunning and Treon Claiborne. Dunning is averaging a team-best 19.8 points and 2.0 steals per game while Claibrone is scoring 16.5 ppg to go with 7.6 rpg.

• Claiborne went for 21 points against the Mountain Lions in the school's first meeting this season. Geron Tate and Remar Brothers added 18 points apiece with Samuel Ouedraogo pulling in 14 rebounds.

• Bluefield State scores 81.8 ppg while allowing 91.0 ppg. As a team, BSC is shooting 38.9 percent from the field and 30.5 percent from three-point range. Bluefield's opponents are shooting 48.2 percent and 33.2 percent, respectively.

UP NEXT
• Monday's game will be Concord's last for 19 days. The Mountain Lions jump back into action against top-ranked West Liberty University on Jan. 4 in West Liberty, W. Va.