Concord Stats -
IUP Stats -
Pitt-Johnstown Stats -
Live Audio (Friday Only) -
Live Stats -
Live Video (Friday Only) -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team begins its season at hte IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic at Indiana (Pa.) with a game against IUP 7:30 p.m. Friday before facing Pitt-Johnstown 5:15 p.m. Saturday inside the Kovalchick Center on IUP's campus.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Live radio play-by-play will be available for Concord's game with Indiana (Pa.) on WQMU locally in the western Pennsylvania area.
Stats: Live in-game statistics will be provided by the Indiana (Pa.) Sports Information Department for both games involving Concord.
Video: Live streaming video can be accessed for CU's Friday night contest versus IUP.
RECORDS
Concord went 17-13 last season and went to the Mountain East Conference Semifinal Round in the postseason tournament.
IUP is preseason nationally-ranked eighth by the National Assocation of Basketball Coaches' Division II Poll after a 22-8 season last year.
The Mountain Cats posted a record of 15-12 in 2017-18.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Before practice began for the Mountain Lions in the middle of October, senior guard
Tommy Bolte was named to the Street & Smith Magazine Division II Preseason First Team All-America Team.
Later this fall, Bolte was selected as a Preseason All-American and the MEC Preseason Player of the Year by Division II Bulletin.
The Chillicothe, Ohio native is coming off a season that saw him lead Division II in scoring with 31.8 points per game while also grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game and recording 5.5 assists per game. Furthermore, Bolte was voted as aFirst Team All-American by D2CCA at the end of the 2017-18 season.
The Crimson Hawks counter with their own preseason All-American, Jacobo Diaz, who averaged nearly a double-double last season as a junior.
FRONT LINE PRODUCTION
The Mountain Lions return two starters from last year's front court in junior forward
Trey Brisco and senior forward
Jafar Musa.
The duo was particularly strong for Concord over the final month of last season. Brisco averaged 9.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in the last nine games of the season.
During the stretch, the Stephens City, Virginia native had five double-digit scoring games after only having four double-digit scoring games in the first 21 contests of 2017-18.
For the season, Brisco shot 41.4 percent from the floor, but over the final nine games Brisco recorded a field-goal percentage of 48.9 (24-for-49).
For Musa, he averaged 5.0 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per contest from February 3 to March 3 of last season.
Over that time frame, the Edo, Nigeria native scored a career-high 10 points versus Fairmont State on February 10.
Additionally, Musa had a shooting percentage of 70.8 in those nine games (17-for-24).
HOT START, STRONG FINISH
Last season, Bolte started the season by averaging 33.1 points per game as he scored 25 or more points in eight of his first 10 games of 2017-18.
Additionally, five of those 10 games resulted in Bolte scoring 30 or more points.
The senior guard put up very similar numbers in the home stretch of the season.
Over the final 10 games of last season, Bolte netted 33.1 points per game and had seven 30-point games in the last 10 contests last year.
OUT OF THE GATE FAST
CU has been playing in an opening weekend crossover classic since the 2012-13 season.
The Mountain Lions have found success in those games with a 10-2 record while averaging 82.2 points per game.
Both of the losses for Concord have come against Winston-Salem State. Two seasons ago, the Maroon and Gray lost 93-90 in overtime to the Rams, and also dropped a 76-73 decision in 2013-14 to the WSSU.
Last season, Bolte busted on the scene with two impressive games against Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State at WSSU during the opening weekend of the season.
Bolte went for 40 points and 10 assists in an 82-75 win over Fayetteville State.
On the second night of the season, Bolte returned to action to score 43 points while handing out six assists in an 89-77 triumph over Winston-Salem State.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE
The Mountain Lions will be a facing a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference team for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
As a part of CU's 10-2 record in the conference challenges, Concord downed Mercyhurst and Kutztown to open up the 2012-13 season, the first for head coach
Todd May as an assistant of then-head coach Kent McBride's staff.
CU defeated Mercyhurst 82-69 on the first night of the 2012-13 season before beating KU 79-73 in games that were played at Mercyhurst.
The Maroon and Gray last played Pitt-Johnstown at the end of the 2012-13 season in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's Tournament First Round.
Concord dropped a 92-82 decision to the Mountain Cats, but have not played a current member of the PSAC since.
Concord is 2-8 all-time versus UPJ, and is winless in two meetings with Indiana (Pa.). The last time CU played the Carimson Hawks was during the 2002-03 season when it fell 77-73 at the end of November.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
10- Concord won 10 of its 17 games away from the Carter Center last season.
45- Concord was 12-3 a season ago when holding opponents to less than 45 percent shooting.
294- Made field goals by Bolte last season--fourth most in a single season at Concord.
IUP AT A GLANCE
Though Indiana (Pa.) possesses Diaz in the front court, they have stellar players around the preseason All-American.
Head coach Joe Lombardi's son, Dante, headlines the backcourt and the Crimson Hawks pair Diaz with Willem Brandwijk along the front line.
Diaz averaged 14.8 points per game to go along with 9.7 rebounds per game last season.
Lombardi threw in 12.9 points per game in 2017-18. IUP was 12-4 last season at home.
PITT-JOHNSTOWN AT A GLANCE
The Mountain Cats lost their top two scroers from last season, but return Josh Wise who averaged 15 points per game.
Wise also added 5.6 rebounds per game and shot 44 percent from the floor.
Head coach Bob Rukavina begins his 30th season on the sidelines for UPJ and has won over 450 career games.
Pitt-Johnstown won five of its final six regular season games before falling to Edinboro in the first round of the PSAC Tournament last season.
