Concord Prepares for Contests at Bluefield State's Currence Classic

Concord Stats - Bluefield State Stats - Francis Marion Stats - Live Stats

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team will travel to the Bluefield State Currence Classic for a pair of games 7:30 p.m. Friday versus Bluefield State and 4:00 p.m. Saturday against Francis Marion.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Bluefield State Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics for all games at the Currence Classic. To access the live state, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

SCOUTING CONCORD
Early Season Success
The Mountain Lions carry a 3-1 record into the weekend after defeating Urbana 93-86 Monday night behind a career-high 31 points from senior guard Mike Boyd.

Concord can start 5-1 for the second time in three seasons by winning both games at the Currence Classic. In 2012-13, CU started 6-2.

Conference's Best
Boyd and sophomore guard Aaron Miller are fourth and fifth in the Mountain East Conference in scoring averaging 20.5 and 20.3 points per game (ppg).

Boyd and Miller are one of three sets of teammates to be ranked in the top 10 in scoring in the league joining West Liberty's Seger Bonifant and Devin Hoehn and Notre Dame's Tyree Gaiter and Lawrence DeArmond.

Strong Success on the Boards
As a team, Concord is second in the MEC in rebounding margin (+6.0).

CU's success on the glass has been spearheaded by junior forwards Jametrius Wade and Terry Hopewell who rank eighth and tenth in the conference in rebounds per game at 7.3 and 6.8, respectively.

Boyd is just outside the top 10 in rebounds per game in 12^th at 6.5.

Offensive Efficiency
The Mountain Lions are shooting 52 percent from the field this season and 73 percent from the charity stripe which ranks first and fourth respectively in the MEC.

Hopewell (72 percent), Miller (60 percent) and Boyd (51 percent) are all above 50 percent from the field while Wade is just off the mark, shooting 48 percent.

Concord has made 79 foul shots this season and Boyd has connected on nearly half of CU's free throws shooting 38-for-46 (82 percent) from the foul line.

Ironmen
Senior guard Paul Byrd (31.5 minutes per game) and Boyd (31.2) are eighth and ninth in the league in minutes played.

A season ago, Byrd averaged just 17.4 minutes per game.

Milestones
Boyd achieved 1,000 career points against Urbana. The Cincinnati, Ohio became the 36^th different Mountain Lion to surpass 1,000 points and now has 1,003 points. Boyd needs 20 points to move into 33^rd place all-time. In the process he would pass Damien Tunstalle (1,012), Cedric Ganaway (1,016) and Javaughn Manuel (1,022).

Miller has connected on 44 career three-pointers in his career, tying him for 32^nd all-time with Tom Cook. Miller can leap into the top 30 with just two more makes from the behind the arc and can pass Chris Nichols  for 29^th all-time with six made three-point buckets.

SCOUTING BLUEFIELD STATE
Bluefield State is 1-3 this season, most recently losing to rival Bluefield College 83-73 Monday night.

Mark Durgan and Dajon Reno are averaging 24.0 ppg and 23.5 ppg respectively. No other BSC player is scoring more than eight ppg.

The Blues have a turnover margin of +2 as they only commit 12.5 turnovers per game.

SCOUTING FRANCIS MARION
FMU enters this weekend with a 3-1 record having won three straight. The Patriots will play Friday night versus WVU Tech as part of the Currence Classic before playing Concord.

Detrek Browning is Francis Marion's top scorer averaging 19.5 ppg  and is shooting 45 percent from the field (26-for-57).

The Patriots won their only other neutral court game this season versus Lenoir-Rhyne 61-53.

UP NEXT
The Mountain Lions will head to Glenville State for a key early-season MEC game 7:30 Thursday, December 4