Concord Stats -
Bluefield State Stats -
Live Audio -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team plays Bluefield State 8:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Ned Shott Gymnasium in Bluefield, West Virginia.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will have live radio play-by-play coverage of the game on 94.5 "Willie" FM beginning at 7:45 p.m. with the pregame. The game can also be heard on
www.mywillie.com
RECORDS
CU started the season going 1-1 at the IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic as it lost to Indiana (Pa.) 83-72 before beating Pitt-Johnstown 81-72.
Bluefield State started the season by defeating Campbellsville Univeristy Harrodsburg 86-64 at home.
FLAME THROWER
In Concord's win over UPJ, junior guard
Jair Rodgers led the scoring for the Mountain Lions as he netted 34 points in just his second game in the Maroon and Gray.
Rodgers did the bulk of his damage in the first half as he tallied 27 points on 8-for-11 shooting and 7-for-8 from three-point range.
The South Bend, Indiana native finished the game, shooting 11-for-19 overall and 8-for-14 from beyond the arc. Rodgers was the first Concord play to net 30 points in a game--other than senior guard
Tommy Bolte--since
B.J. Hamlet threw in 38 points versus West Liberty January 13, 2018.
Before Rodgers' big night, there had been 13 30-point games by Concord players over the last five seasons other than Bolte's 14 games in 2017-18.
Rob Reed accomplished the feat six times,
Aaron Miller scored 30 or more points in five games and
Mike Boyd and Hamlet each had one 30-point contest during that time frame.
Additionally, Rodgers' eight three-pointers tie him with Hamlet for most three-pointers by a CU player in the last three seasons.
BACK IN THE MIX
Sophomore guard/forward
Malik Johnson made an instant impact for Concord after missing the final 16 games of the 2017-18 season with an injury.
Johnson came off the bench in both games over the weekend and averaged 12 points including 13 points versus IUP, one off his career high.
In the two games, Johnson shot 12-for-13 at the charity stripe, pitting him fifth in the Mountain East Conference in foul shooting (.923) in the early going. In 13 games last season, the Wytheville, Virginia native was only a 48.1 percent (13-for-27) shooter at the charity stripe.
As a team, the Mountain Lions shot 90.3 percent (28-for-31) from the foul line in their two games, the best in the MEC.
Only CU and Glenville State (89.5 percent) are shooting above 80 percent from the free-throw line among MEC teams.
Along with Johnson's effective shooting, Bolte and Rodgers were both 6-for-6 at the foul line over the weekend.
INSIDE WORK
After two games, the Mountain Lions own a +3.5 edge in rebounding margin. Against IUP, Concord was outrebounded 36-33, but held a 46-36 advantage on the glass versus Pitt-Johnstown.
The rebounding over the weekend was spearheaded by junior forwards
Trey Brisco and
Simun Kovac. Brisco notched 10 rebounds versus the Mountain Cats and just missed a double-double with nine points.
Meanwhile, Kovac grabbed 12 rebounds to pace CU versus UPJ.
Matter-of-factly, Kovac led Concord in rebounding in both contests as he pulled down eight rebounds against the talented front court of IUP.
SECOND CHANCES
With the help of Kovac's work on the offensive glass, Concord averaged 16.5 second-chance points against Pitt-Johnstown.
Of the 20 total rebounds the Bosnia native was able to tally, 10 came on the offensive end in two games.
Brisco recorded seven offensive rebounds while sophomore forward David Mulumba and senior forward
Jafar Musa each had three offensive rebounds in the two contests.
In terms of second-chance points, Brisco and Kovac led the way.
Of the 31 points off of offensive rebounds, Kovac had 10 points including a crucial late tip-in to seal the victory versus Pitt-Johnstown while Brisco added nine second-chance points.
Bolte and Rodgers each had five second-chance points and Johnson added four.
Going back to last season, Concord has now tallied 15 or more second-chance points in four of the last five games.
And CU is averaging 12.2 offensive rebounds per game during that stretch.
WELCOMED SIGHT
Last season, Bolte had great success against Bluefield State as the Mountain Lions split the two regular-season meetings against their Mercer County rival.
Bluefield State won at the Carter Center 87-83 in the middle part of November before CU picked up a 70-59 road win at the end of January.
In Concord's defeat, Bolte scored 29 points on 11-for-20 shooting, but did not play the final 12 minutes of the game after leaving with injury.
In the win for the Maroon and Gray, Bolte was equally impressive as he nearly notched a double-double of 27 points and nine rebounds while dishing out four assists.
The Mountain Lions have won four straight games inside the Ned Shott Gymnasium with each win coming by at least 11 points.
The average margin of victory for CU in those games has been 15.0 points.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Some of the success for the Mountain Lions against Bluefield State in recent history has been CU's ability to lock down the Blues shooting the ball.
In the last six games, Concord has held BSC to 36.6 percent shooting, and has only allowed the Blues to shoot above 45 percent in one of those games--last year's win for Bluefield State at the Carter Center.
BSC shot 48.4 percent (28-for-60) in its win over CU last season.
Furthermore, Concord has recorded 46 total steals in the last six games with Bluefield State including a pair of 11-steal games during the 2016-17 season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7- Turnovers by Concord versus IUP, its fourth time in the last six games with less than 10 turnovers.
11- Number of rebounds for Brisco in his double-double versus BSC last season: 12 points and 11 rebounds.
15- Concord's average margin of victory during a four-game winning streak at BSC.
BLUEFIELD STATE AT A GLANCE
BSC was paced by Teyon Henry in its season-opening win as he registered a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Henry also handed out seven assists.
When Bluefield State won at Concord last season, Korey Williams had 23 points. At Bluefield State, Williams scored 22 points on CU, but needed 21 shots as he went 6-for-21 from the field.
Shawn Duhon was a key figure in BSC's win at Concord as he tallied 26 points. However, Duhon did not play in the second game between the rivals last season and also did not play in the Blues' win last week.
