Concord Awaits Challenge at Nationally-Ranked Teams, West Liberty, Wheeling Jesuit

Concord Stats - West Liberty Stats - Wheeling Jesuit Stats - Live Audio - Live Video (West Liberty) - Live Stats (West Liberty) - Live Stats (Wheeling Jesuit) - Live Video (Wheeling Jesuit) - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - Coming off a successful 2-0 road swing at West Virginia Wesleyan and Glenville State, the Concord University men's basketball team hits the road for two games in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle against West Liberty 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Wheeling Jesuit 4:00 p.m. Saturday.

LIVE COVERAGE
West Liberty Audio
West Liberty Live Stats
West Liberty Live Video
Wheeling Jesuit Live Stats
Wheeling Jesuit Live Video

The West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit Sports Information Departments will provide live in-game statistics and live video for both games involving Concord. WLU's Kyle West will live audio of Thursday's game between the Mountain Lions and West Liberty. To access the live coverage, follow the links above, at the top of the page or by clicking here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• Winners of three in a row and eight of its last 10, CU is 16-6 overall and 11-5 in the Mountain East Conference.

• WLU is ranked third by the NABC with a 20-2 mark and 14-2 record in the MEC.

• WJU is ranked second by the NABC with a mark of 22-1 overall and 15-1 against league foes.

• By defeating Glenville State 86-78 Saturday on the road, CU surpassed last year's road win total of eight and now has a 9-2 record away from the Carter Center.

• Additionally, the nine road victories are the most for a Concord team since head coach Kent McBride took over prior to the 2011-2012 season.

• The road success has been in due in large part to Concord outrebounding its opponent by an average of six rebounds a game in nine road wins compared to a season rebounding margin of +5.7 in the other 13 games.

• Winning on the road more times than not requires rebounding and defense and that's exactly what Concord has done this season.

• Senior forwards Terry Hopewell and Jametrius Wade have pulled down 10.4 rebounds and 7.5 rebounds per game in CU's 11 true road games this season.

• Additionally, Concord has allowed its opponents to 43.5 percent shooting, and in six of 11 road games Concord has held its opponents to  43 percent or less shooting.

• After Concord concludes its game against Wheeling Jesuit Saturday afternoon, it will be the fourth time this season the Mountain Lions will have played a top five in all of Division II.

• Concord is 1-1 in its previous two games against nationally-ranked top five teams.

• The Mountain Lions defeated then-number one West Liberty behind 36 points from senior guard Rob Reed on Jan. 18 and narrowly lost to number-two Fairmont State 88-87 Jan. 28.

• Even though Reed scored 36 points in the upset of West Liberty back on Jan. 18, Concord got contributions from several players to defeat the number one team in the nation.

• Hopewell notched a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds while junior guard Michael Sanchez recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 assists.

• Wade shot an efficient 6-for-8 from the field as he scored 15 points.

• Junior guard Aaron Miller scored 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

• Every single starter for CU shot at least 50 percent from the field as Concord shot 60.7 percent (37-for-61) from the field as a team.

• Concord was able to beat West Liberty by scoring 66 points in the second half against West Liberty at the Carter Center.

• Of the 66 points, 38 of them came in a 38-15 scoring run in the middle stages of the second half to propel Concord to a 82-69 lead after trailing 54-44 early on in the second half.

• During that time, CU shot 16-for-19 from the floor and all five starters chipped in. Below is a chart of how Concord shot during the outburst.
 

Player	FGM-FGA	FG Percentage	Points
Rob Reed	6-7	.857	15
Aaron Miller	4-6	.667	10
Michael Sanchez	2-2	1.000	6
Jametrius Wade	2-2	1.000	5
Terry Hopewell	1-1	1.000	2

• Wade has found success against WJU in the last two contests with the Cardinals.

• In last year's MEC Tournament game, Wade scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

• This season at home, Wade poured in 19 points and collected eight rebounds.

• The Detroit, Michigan native forced overtime against Wheeling Jesuit with a monsterous dunk-and one play that has been nominated for GEICO Play of the Year. To vote for Wade's dunk follow the link

CU fell narrowly in the extra session to the Cardinals 85-82 before scoring an upset of West Liberty two days later.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2- Games Concord has won on its last possession this season after Sanchez's three-pointer at WVWC.

24- Combined three-pointers made by Concord versus West Liberty and WJU this season.

66- Points scored by CU in the second half against WLU, a season-high for a half.

SCOUTING WEST LIBERTY
• The Hilltoppers possess the most potent offense not only in the MEC, but in all of Division II as they average 101.7 points per game, the most of Division II team.

• Seger Bonifant leads the conference in scoring at 24.0 points per game while Devin Hoehn complements him by scoring 15.7 points per game which is 14th in the MEC.

• WLU's Zac Grossenbacher ranks second in the conference in blocks per game (1.9) and is seventh in rebounds per game (9.0).

SCOUTING WHEELING JESUIT
• Wheeling Jesuit is the top rebounding team in the MEC, outrebounding its opponent by 7.3 boards on average.

• However, CU is second in the league in rebounding margin (+5.7).

• The Cardinals have nobody ranked in the top 15 in the league in scoring, but have four guys between 17th and 25th.

• Eric Siefert leads WJU with 15.0 points per game. Haywood Smith averages 13.5 points and 9.5 boards per contest.

• Justin Fritts averages 14.6 points per game and Pat Moseh is adding 13.6 points per game.

• WJU has won 17 games in a row.