Concord Carries Win Streak into MEC Play

Concord Stats - W.Va. State Stats - Charleston Stats - Live Stats (W.Va. State) - Live Stats (Charleston) - Live Audio (Charleston Only) - Live Video (Charleston Only) - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - After a 2-0 start for the second straight season versus CIAA opponents, the Concord University men's basketball team will jump into Mountain East Conference play with a road contest at West Virginia State 4:00 p.m. Saturday before hosting the University of Charleston in a league rivalry game 7:30 p.m. Monday in what will be the home opener for the Mountain Lions.

LIVE COVERAGE
The West Virginia State University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics for Saturday's contest between CU and the Yellow Jackets. Meanwhile, the Concord University Sports Information Department will have live in-game statistics as well live video for Monday's game. Additionally, Jason "Moose" Reed and Steve Cox will do live play-by-play of the game on 97.3 FM "Willie" and online at www.mywillie.com. To access the live coverage, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
The 2-0 start for the Mountain Lions is credited in part to their markmanship from three-point range.

After one weekend of play, CU leads the conference in three-point shooting percentage at 50 percent (23-for-46), and the accurate display from beyond the arc is led by junior guard Aaron Miller and senior guard Rob Reed.

The duo combined to go 17-for-26 from three-point range with Miller making nine triples and Reed connecting on eight. Miller is second in the league in three-point percentage (.692) and Reed is sixth (.615).

In his first season in the Maroon and Gray after transferring from Santa Fe Community College, junior guard Michael Sanchez has helped fill the void vacated by former point guard Mike Boyd.

At Winston-Salem State, Sanchez scored 18 points and dished out seven assists with 15 of his points coming at the foul line where he finished 15-of-17. Sanchez returned against Livingstone to hand out another seven assists. In two games, Sanchez has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.3, and his 7.0 assist per game ranks second in the MEC.

CU has a rebounding margin of +7.0 after two games and ranks second in the conference.

Senior forward Terry Hopewell matched his career-high with 16 rebounds in the season opener versus the Rams and came back with a seven rebounds against Livingstone.

Also helping out the rebounding cause for the Mountain Lions was sophomore forward Babe Murphy who had a personal-best seven rebounds versus Livingstone.

Of Concord's 20 wins a season ago, 11 wins came by 10 points or fewer which is how the Mountain Lions started the season with a seven-point and four-point win.

CU has been able to close out tight games thanks in part to clutch free-throw shooting.

Already this season, Miller is 6-for-8 at the charity stripe while Reed and Sanchez are both 2-for-2 in the final three minutes of games.

Additionally, Concord held Livingstone without a point over the final two minutesas it forced three missed shots by the Bears down the stretch.

Last season at West Virginia State, senior forward Jametrius Wade scored 24 points and collected 20 rebounds including nine on the offensive glass.
Of Wade's nine offensive rebounds, he scored six second-chance points for himself and as a team Concord tallied 14 second-chance points off of Wade's work on the offensive glass.

At home versus the Yellow Jackets, Reed had 40 points including matching a school-record with 10 three-pointers.

The Mountain Lions defeated WVSU last season by a total of 38 points. Additionally, head coach Kent McBride is 7-1 in his coaching career against W.Va. State. Counting his playing days at CU, McBride is 11-5 in games with WVSU.

Over the weekend, Concord shot 78 free throws which is the most foul shots the Mountain Lions have taken in a two-game stretch since they took 65 during the 2012-13 season against Ohio Valley and Fairmont State.

Last season, Concord shot 69.5 percent from the foul. This season CU is shooting 74.4 percent from the free-throw line. Six players have shot at least at least 70 percent from the charity stripe this season. The players are Murphy (3-for-3), senior forward Taylor Smith (2-for-2), Reed (10-for-11), Miller (10-for-12), junior guard Cam Shannon (3-for-4) and Sanchez (24-for-33).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6- Consecutive games dating back to last season that CU has had at least 35 rebounds in a game.

104- Number of combined rebounds by Concord in two games versus W.Va. State last season.

+18- Concord outscored Charleston 60-42 in the paint in two meetings last season.

SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA STATE
West Virginia State also has started the season 2-0 after wins over Chowan and Elizabeth City State.

Markee Mazyck led the Yellow Jackets in scoring in both contests and is averaging 21.5 points per game, sixth in the MEC.

Big man Robert Fomby is second in the league in rebounding behind Hopewell with 11.0 rebounds per game.

This is the first time WVSU has started the season 2-0 since the 2010-2011 season, also the last time the Yellow Jackets won 20 games in a season.

SCOUTING CHARLESTON
Despite 1-2, Charleston is leading the league in field goal defense (38.5) and three-point defense (21.7).

The Golden Eagles have also surrendered the fewest points per game (69.3) in the MEC. Last season, Charleston and Concord split a pair of regular season meetings with each home team winning.

Aleksander Kesic had a 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Mountain Lions at Charleston last season in a 70-65 win for UC.

Concord limited Kesic to just seven points as the Mountain Lions won 68-63 in Athens.