Concord Opens Season at Virginia State Classic

2013-14 Concord Stats - 2013-14  Virginia State Stats - 2013-14 Ellizabeth City State Stats

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball will begin its season Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. with a nonconference tilt against Virginia State University at the Virginia State Classic. At 4:00 p.m.  Saturday Concord will go up against Elizabeth City State at the Virginia State Classic.

COACHES
• CU head coach Kent McBride begins his fourth season at Concord where he owns a 41-44 record.

• Lonnie Blow starts his sixth season at Virginia State. He is 46-15 in five previous seasons.

• Alico Dunk begins his first season at Elizabeth City State after serving as the women's head basketball coach at ECSU the previous five seasons.

RECORDS
• The Mountain Lions are coming off an 8-21 campaign last season and were picked to finish 10^th in the Mountain East Conference preseason poll.

• Virginia State finished 14-13 in 2013-14 as they lost in the first round of the CIAA Conference Tournament.

• Elizabeth City State also had a record of 14-13 during the 2013-14 campaign.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• McBride is 2-1 in his three previous season openers including a 83-78 victory over Fayetteville State to start last season.

• Senior guard Mike Boyd matched his career-high in last year's first game of the season by scoring a team-high 24 points.

• Sophomore forward Jalen Camper had a career-best 14 points against Fayetteville State on 5-for-10 shooting.

• A season ago, junior guard Cam Shannon was one of the best three-point marksmen in the MEC as he finished sixth in three-point percentage (41.9 percent/31-for-74).

• The Mountain Lions return two double-figure scorers from last season in Boyd (13.8 points per game) and Shannon (11.0).

• Overall, Concord has four of its top five scorers back from the 2013-14 season. Along with Boyd and Shannon, junior forward Terry Hopewell (8.3 ppg) and sophomore guard  Aaron Miller (8.3 ppg) return.

• Shannon finished last season by scoring 10 or more points in 12 of his last 16 games including a team-high 20 points to close the season at Shepherd.

• Boyd needs 59 points to become the 36^th CU player to net 1,000 points in a career. Additionally, by tallying 39 more assists Boyd will become the seventh player to hand out 400 assists in a career.

• Boyd would be the only CU player to have 1,000 or more points and at least 400 assists in his career.

• Miller will carry a streak of seven consecutive games in which he has made at least one three-point field goal into this season. In his last 11 contests, the Stephens City, Va. native has connected on at least one three-point basket.

• Junior forward Jametrius Wade comes to Concord from Oakland Community College in Michigan after averaging 16.7 ppg and 8.9 rebounds per contest a season ago.

• McBride also brought in junior college guard Rob Reed. The South Bend, Indiana native averaged 14.7 ppg.

• The Mountain Lions are 2-0 against Virginia State all-time while they are 1-1 against Elizabeth City State.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA STATE
• The Trojans return their top scorer in Lamar Kearse who averaged 11.3 ppg last season. Kearse also led VSU in assists after dishing out 3.3 assists per game.

• Virginia State posted a 7-4 record at home last season including winning four out of their last six.

• VSU opened up last season by playing two teams in the MEC in Fairmont State and West Virginia Wesleyan. The Trojans fell to Fairmont State 85-77, but did defeat the Bobcats 70-66.

SCOUTING ELIZABETH CITY STATE
• Miykael Faulcon was the Vikings top scorer from last season as he average 15.3 ppg.

• ECSU lost its top two rebounders in LaShawn Alexander and Dominique Byrd who average 6.9 and 7.5 boards per outing.

• The Vikings were picked to finish fifth in the CIAA-North this season.

UP NEXT
The Mountain Lions open up conference play on the road against Notre Dame Nov. 22 at 4:00 p.m.