Concord Stats -
Wheeling Jesuit Stats -
West Liberty Stats -
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Live Video -
Live Stats (Wheeling Jesuit) -
Live Stats (West Liberty) -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team starts a three-game homestand when it welcomes Wheeling Jesuit to the Carter Center 7:30 p.m. Thursday before hosting West Liberty 3:00 p.m. Saturday.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will provide live radio play-by-play of both Thursday and Saturday's game on 94.5 "Willie" FM and online at www.mywillie.com
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will have Wheeling Jesuit live statistics and West Liberty live statistics available.
Video: Live streaming video will also be provided by the Concord University Sports Information Department.
RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are 8-5 this season and 5-3 in the MEC.
Wheeling Jesuit is ranked 19th in the nation with a mark of 11-2 overall and 7-1 against MEC foes.
WLU is one of five remaining unbeaten teams in Division II, sporting a record of 13-0 and 8-0 in the league and a national ranking of third.
CARRYING THE STREAK
Although CU lost both road games last week against Shepherd and Fairmont State, junior guard
Tommy Bolte stayed on his torrid scoring pace, tallying 38 points at Shepherd and registering 20 against FSU.
Bolte has now scored 20 or more points in all 11 games he's played this season.
The Chillicothe, Ohio native now qualifies for the Division II lead in points per game at 33.1.
The last player in the MEC to have at least 20 points in 10 or more straight games was former West Liberty standout Seger Bonifant, who scored 20 or more points in 15 consecutive games to start the 2015-16 season.
SECOND HALF SURGE
Part of Bolte's success has been his ability to finish games strong. Bolte has scored 20 or more points five times in the second halves of games this season.
Of Bolte's 331 points on the season, 201 have come after halftime.
His average of 20.1 points in the second half rank him third in the MEC in scoring and just outside the top 50 nationally.
Additionally, Bolte is shooting 63.2 percent (62-for-98) in the second halves of games this year which is nine percent higher than his overall mark of 54.5 (115-for-211).
"P" FOR POINTS
Freshman forward
Antonio Patterson and freshman guard
Darian Peterson provided a spark for the Mountain Lions off the bench against Fairmont State.
Matter-of-factly, Patterson scored in double figures in both contests on the road trip with an 11-point showing at Shepherd before pouring in a career-best 16 points against the Fighting Falcons.
Patterson's 16 points marked the fifth time this season he has scored at least 10 points, the most for a CU freshman since Aaron Miller had eight such games during the 2013-14 season.
Meanwhile, Peterson notched his fourth double-digit scoring game of the season with 10 points at Fairmont State.
REBOUNDING AMONG THE GIANTS
Freshman guard
Malik Johnson led Concord in rebounding against Fairmont State with a career-best eight boards.
Bolte added six rebounds in the contest as the duo paced the Mountain Lions in rebounding.
The last time two guards topped CU in rebounds was at Urbana last season when Bolte and Miller collected a total of 14 combined boards.
Johnson added 12 points on Saturday which was his first time in double figures since November 18 at Notre Dame when he posted 14 points.
TOP OF THE GROUP
The two-game stretch for Concord against Wheeling Jesuit and West Liberty features the top three teams in the MEC in turnover margin.
WLU sports a turnover margin of +11.6 while CU is +3.2 and the Cardinals are +2.3.
The Mountain Lions are coming off a game at Fairmont State in which they only committed five turnovers--the first time with five or less turnovers since last season's road win at Notre Dame when they had just three turnovers.
Concord will face the team that forces the most turnovers--West Liberty--and the team that forces the second-most turnovers--WJU--in the MEC.
The two schools force a combined 36.5 turnovers per game.
CHARITY STRIPE SUCCESS
Over the last five games, Concord has shot at least 70 percent from the free-throw line including three games of shooting 75 percent or better.
Prior to the run at the foul line, CU had three games in a four-game span where it shot below 65 percent from the charity stripe.
With their recent success shooting free throws, the Mountain Lions have moved up to fifth in the MEC in foul shooting at 71.7 percent.
Four different players are shooting at least 75 percent with a minimum of 10 makes from the charity stripe.
Senior guard
B.J. Hamlet leads the group at 94.7 percent followed by Bolte (88.0), freshman forward
Jyles Webster (78.8) and Peterson (75.0).
WIRE-TO-WIRE UPSET
Last season when the Mountain Lions upset then second-ranked West Liberty at home, CU never trailed in the game, and the game was only tied three times during Concord's 107-104 win.
Before last season, the last time the Hilltoppers lost a game in which it never led was during the 2014-15 season in a 102-80 loss against Wheeling Jesuit.
Concord will be seeking to defeat WLU for a third straight season at home.
Two seasons ago, the Mountain Lions knocked off West Liberty when it was ranked first in the nation. Last year, WLU was second and this year the Hilltoppers will be third.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- It's been three years since Concord defeated Wheeling Jesuit at home.
61- Shooting percentage for Concord in last year's win over West Liberty.
81- Bolte's 81 free throws made ranks top 25 in Division II and first in the Atlantic Region.
WHEELING JESUIT AT A GLANCE
The Cardinals have three players averaging at least 17 points per game.
Haywood Highsmith is averaging a double-double of 22.2 points and 13.0 rebounds per game.
Additionally, Highsmith leads Division II in rebounding.
Pat Moseh is 10th in the MEC in scoring at 17.4 points per game and Preston Boswell is right behind at 17.3 points per game.
WJU is the only team in the MEC allowing less than 70 points per game (69.9), and the Cardinals also have the best rebounding margin in the conference at +4.8.
WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
West Liberty is guided by former standout and first-year head coach Ben Howlett who scored over 1,500 points during his WLU career.
The Hilltoppers are the only team in the nation to average over 100 points per game at 112.9.
WLU also leads Division II in three-pointers made per game with 13.9. Dan Monteroso leads five Hilltoppers in double figures at 18.8 points per game.
Dalton Bolon (16.3) and James Griffin (13.8) round out the top three point getters for West Liberty
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