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ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team is set to host Pitt-Johnstown for a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament first round game 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Carter Center. A victory would send CU to the second round of the WVIAC Tournament for the second consecutive season.
Records and Seedings
The Mountain Lions finished the regular season 16-10 overall and 12-10 in conference play, earning the eighth seed, and the right to host a first round game, in the WVIAC Tournament. One more victory and Concord would match the 2011-12 and 2006-07 teams for the most wins by the program since the 2003-04 season.
Concord enters the tournament having won five of its last six games.
Pitt-Johnstown, the tournament's ninth seed, lost its final four games to conclude the regular season 14-12 overall and 10-12 in the WVIAC.
Last Meeting
Second Team All-WVIAC selection
Damien Tunstalle scored 25 points and sophomore guard
Paul Byrd came off the bench to add 20 points in an 86-76 CU victory at UPJ on Nov. 17.
As a team, Concord edged the Mountain Cats in field goal percentage (47.5 percent – 47.0 percent). CU was nearly flawless from the foul line, converting 19-of-22 shots (86.4 percent) in addition to draining nine three-pointers.
The Mountain Lions held clear advantages over Pitt-Johnstown in rebounds (41-32), second chance points (16 – 8) and bench points (32-0). Concord did not trail for the duration of the contest.
Thomas Brown and
Jordan Davis chipped in 12 and 11 points each with Brown pulling down a game-best eight rebounds.
The Series
Concord and Pitt-Johnstown have met eight times since the 2005-06 season with UPJ having won six of the contests. However, Concord has been victorious in the last two meetings.
Concord's Top Players
Tunstalle has had a career-year in his final season wearing the Maroon and Gray. He has started 22 of Concord's 26 games and is averaging 16.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.0 assists per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the field, 39.4 percent from three-point range and 75.0 percent at the foul line. Tunstalle, currently the WVIAC's 13th leading scorer, needs just five points to reach 1,000-for his career.
Sophomore guard
Mike Boyd can not only be counted on to take care of the basketball, he leads the WVIAC in assist/turnover ratio and averages 4.35 assists per game, but he has also developed into one of Concord's top scoring threats. Boyd, CU's second-leading scorer at 11.5 ppg on the season, has helped shoulder the offensive load recently having scored no fewer than 16 points in the Mountain Lions' last three games.
Davis is Concord's leading rebounder at 6.0 boards per game. Davis' field goal percentage of 60.1 percent is the highest by a Concord player since Lewis Muse shot 62.1 percent from the field during the 2003-04 season.
Other contributors for Concord include Brown, who has made 30 three-pointers on the year, and freshman
Nick Moyer, who is shooting 48.9 percent from the field (17-for-35) and with 11 steals since being inserted into the starting lineup on Jan. 28.
Tunstalle and fellow seniors
Eric Bailey and
Gentry Shrewsbury have played in five WVIAC Tournament games in their careers.
Pitt-Johnstown's Top Players
Nick Novak earned first team All-WVIAC honors after ranking second in the league in scoring (22.2 ppg), third in assists (5.8), fifth in steals (2.27 spg), sixth in free throw shooting (84.6 percent) and 11th in field goal percentage (55.0 percent).
Jordan Miller was an honorable mention all-conference selection. For the year, Miller scored 13.8 ppg and shot 46.0 percent (80-for-174) from three-point range. His 80 successful three's were the third most in the conference.
Ian Vescovi led the WVIAC with 49 blocked shots while also grabbing 7.0 rebounds per game.
The Coaches
Kent McBride has led the Mountain Lions to back-to-back winning seasons in his first two years in charge of the program. McBride has won 62.3 percent of his games as Concord's head coach (33-20).
Longtime UPJ head coach Bob Rukavina is in his 24th season at Pitt-Johnstown. Rukavina is 391-268 in his tenure with the Mountain Cats.
Up Next
The Winner of Tuesday's game will advance to play West Liberty, the tournament's top seed and the third-ranked team in the nation, 8:30 p.m. Thursday night at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, W. Va.
Live Coverage
Fans are encouraged to come out to pack the Carter Center. However, those that can't attend the game can keep tabs on the action by listening to announcer Bobby Iddings call the game on ESPN Radio 102.3 The Ticket as well as following along with live stats and video provided by the Concord sports information department.
