Concord Faces Urbana, Notre Dame on the Road

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ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team hits the road for its final two-game road trip 7:30 p.m. Thursday against Urbana before staying in Ohio to face Notre Dame 3:00 p.m. Saturday.

LIVE COVERAGE
Both the Urbana University and Notre Dame College Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics and live streaming video of the games over the weekend. To access the live coverage options, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
CU is 8-16 overall and 4-14 in the Mountain East Conference.

Urbana has a 10-14 record and is 5-13 in the league.

The Falcons have put together a 15-9 overall mark and are  9-9 in the MEC.

STUFFING THE STAT SHEET
In Concord's 107-104 win over West Liberty last week at the Carter Center, sophomore guard Tommy Bolte finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists as Bolte provided the game-winning three-point play with six seconds left to give Concord the upset victory over the second-ranked Hilltoppers.

Bolte's performance was the first 20-point, five rebound, five assist game for a CU player since Mike Boyd scored 31 points, grabbed 10 boards and dished out five assists at Urbana in November 2014.

Bolte returned on Saturday and nearly pulled off another 20-5-5 game as the Chillicothe, Ohio native went for 19 points, pulled down six rebounds and handed out five assists.

Since being inserted into the starting lineup five games ago, Bolte is averaging 14.2 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per contest.

500 CLUB
After scoring 44 points in a two-game stretch last week that included 26 points versus West Liberty, senior guard Aaron Miller is only 30 points shy of scoring 500 points for a third consecutive season.

Only five other players in program history have notched three seasons of 500 points.

The last one to accomplish the feat was Brian Atkins from 2000-2004.

With an 18-point outing versus Wheeling Jesuit, Miller moved past Tracy Poindextor for 10th on the all-time scoring list at Concord.

The Stephens City, Virginia native needs 26 points to reach 1,700 for his career.

Over the last two seasons, Miller is averaging 21.7 points per game versus NDC, including a 29-point performance on the road last season.

Against Urbana, Miller is averaging 13.6 points per game in the last two years.

SHOOTING STREAK
A key factor in Concord's upset win over WLU was senior guard Cam Shannon scoring 15 points and going 6-for-6 from the field.

Shannon carried his hot hand over to the Wheeling Jesuit game as he contributed 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting.

The 84.6 percent effort from the field is the highest percentage in the Beckley, West Virginia native's career in a two-game swing.

The only other time Shannon has made at least 10 combined field goals and shot over 50 percent in consecutive games was during his sophomore season against Fairmont State and Shepherd when Shannon was 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) from the field.

Fellow Beckley native and senior forward Stephen Thompson was instrumental in Concord's win over West Liberty, shooting his best percentage from the field (70 percent / 7-for-10) for the season while burying three three-pointers, his first multi-three-pointer game since the first game against Urbana on January 10.

Additionally, Miller has shot at least 50 percent from the floor in four straight games and five of the last six.

Miller started the season by shooting 50 percent from the floor in five straight games.

CLOSE GAME ALERT
Plenty will be on the line Thursday when Concord and Urbana battle with both teams fighting for the final two spots in the upcoming MEC Tournament.

CU starts the week one game back of ninth which is currently held by both UVa.-Wise and UU.

The top 10 teams make the league postseason.

With a win over Urbana, the Mountain Lions would hold the tiebreaker over UU with via their win against West Liberty.

Earlier this season, the Blue Knights recorded a 73-71 win versus CU at the Carter Center.

Thompson had his only career double-double with 20 points and 12 boards against Urbana. Senior guard Michael Sanchez added 14 points in the contest.

Two of the last three games between Concord and Urbana have been decided by three points or less after CU won 93-90 at home last season.

CLOSE GAME ALERT II
At Notre Dame last season, the Mountain Lions held off a NDC rally late to win by two, 99-97.

CU knocked in 7-of-12 free throws in the final 1:54 of the contest, and Shannon helped force a turnover by the Falcons with four seconds left to seal the win for Concord.

Two of the last four matchups between CU and Notre Dame has been decided by two possessions or less.

Along with last season's road win, Concord came away with a 70-64 win in the MEC Championship last year over the Falcons.

RUN AND GUN
Heading into the weekend, CU has scored 80 points in three straight games, the longest since Concord scored 80 in five consecutive contests to the start the season.

In seven regular season MEC meetings with NDC, the Mountain Lions have scored at least 80 five times.

Likewise verus Urbana, Concord has scored 80 points on five occasions and Concord is undefeated in all five games against UU.

SCOUTING URBANA
The Blue Knights won their last home game against West Virginia State 96-77 before dropping consecutive road games to Fairmont State and Shepherd.

UU is tied for fifth in the league in scoring (82.5 points per game) with Notre Dame.

However, Urbana gives up the most points in the conference per game, 87.9. Jahmere Howze averages 16.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
NDC has the MEC's top two scorer in Will Vorhees (26.2 points per game) and KT Taylor (21.0 points per game).

After starting the season 12-2, Notre Dame is just 3-7 in its last 10 games.

The Falcons have the best field goal defense in the MEC (42.6 percent) and the fifth-best three-point defense (35.7 percent).

Sophomore big man Ja'Sean Lew does a little bit of everything for the Falcons as he averages 8.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.1 blocks per game.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- Concord has won all three games its played at Urbana.

22- Bolte has made 22 of his last 23 foul shots, including 11-of-12 versus Wheeling Jesuit.

26-  Points needed by Miller to reach 1,700 for his career.