Concord Hosts West Virginia State on Senior Night, Travels to UVa.-Wise

Concord Stats - West Virginia State Stats - UVa.-Wise Stats - Live Audio - Live Stats (West Virginia State) - Live Video (West Virginia State) - Live Stats (UVa.-Wise) - Live Video (UVa.-Wise) - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team wraps up the regular season when it hosts West Virginia State 7:30 p.m. Wednesday on what will be Senior Night before traveling to UVa.-Wise 4:00 p.m. Saturday in a pair of Mountain East Conference games.

LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and Steve Cox will have live radio coverage of Wednesday's game on 94.5 "Willie" FM and online at mywillie.com.
Stats: Both the Concord University and UVa.-Wise Sports Information Department will have live statistics of the games this week.
Video: Live streaming video will be provided for the contests involving the Mountain Lions.

RECORDS
CU is locked into either the fourth or fifth seed in the upcoming MEC Tournament as it is 12-8 in the league and 17-9 overall. Concord is one game behind Charleston for fourth in the conference standings. Neither CU nor UC can go higher or lower than fourth and fifth.

West Virginia State is 12-14 this season and 9-11 versus league foes.

UVa.-Wise is hanging on to the final postseason spot in 10^th with a MEC mark of 6-14 and is 9-17 overall.

TWO OF A KIND
The Mountain Lions will honor guard Tommy Bolte and forward Jafar Musa prior to Wednesday's game with Senior Night. Bolte needs 22 points to become the sixth player in program history to surpass 2,000 points. Over the last two seasons, the Chillicothe, Ohio native has 1,607 points which is second-most in a two-year span at Concord behind Ron Ward's 1,745 points during the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons. Bolte's 859 points last season are second on the single-season scoring list and his 748 points this year rank fourth. But Bolte hasn't just scored over the last two seasons, once reaching 2,000 points, he will be the only player in program history with 2,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career. Bolte ranks ninth in all-time assists at CU with 409. And Bolte's 85.3 career foul shooting percentage is third all-time. As a two-year player after transferring from Garrett Community College, Musa has been a key asset for the Mountain Lions in the paint. Wednesday will be Musa's 50^th career game and his 30^th start. In 86 career attempts from the field, the Edo, Nigeria native is a 65.1 percent shooter. One of Musa's biggest moments from this season came on a game-winning block at Shepherd to preserve a 77-76 Concord win. In CU's road victory at West Virginia State, Musa had eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

ALL THREE OF THESE
At Urbana, Concord threw in 18 made three-pointers as it matched the most three-pointers made under head coach Todd May, previously set against Fayetteville State November 11, 2016. Junior guard Jair Rodgers led the effort with an 8-of-12 showing from distance. Rodgers is the only player in Division II making more than four three-pointers per game, 4.2. Freshman guard Brandon Kennedy also had a hand in the three-point display as he connected on 5-of-10 triples and going for a career-high 18 points against the Blue Knights. Bolte added four three-pointers and sophomore/guard forward Malik Johnson made one. Saturday marked the 16^th time this season CU has made at least 10 three-pointers in a game. On the season, the Mountain Lions have hit 277 three-pointers. Only two teams at Concord have hit 300 three-pointers in a season—the 1990-91 team and 2015-16 squad.

GETTING ALL THE REBOUNDS
Concord ripped down 47 rebounds and held a 47-37 advantage on the glass at Urbana after getting outrebounded by Notre Dame, 36-29. Junior forward Simun Kovac grabbed a career-best 18 rebounds which were also the most for a CU player in a single game since Terry Hopewell's 19 boards in the 2016 MEC Tournament against West Liberty. Johnson added nine rebounds at UU as he was one rebound shy of matching his career best. Earlier this season, sophomore forward David Mulumba led the way in rebounds against West Virginia State as he had a personal-best 12 in his first career double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds. CU owned a 47-31 rebounding margin at West Virginia State. Versus UVa.-Wise, the Mountain Lions were +16 on the glass (44-28). Once again, Mulumba had the high mark with nine.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
The Mountain Lions matched their season high in assists with 21 on 35 made shots at Urbana. Junior forward Trey Brisco had seven assists for the second time in three games while Johnson added five assists on the day. Also on Saturday, CU put five players in double figures which was the first time that particular feat has been accomplished in over two years—February 18, 2017 at Notre Dame—when Concord won 95-87.

DOWN TO THE WIRE
Two of the last three meetings between Concord and UVa.-Wise have been decided by one possession. CU won 83-82 on January 26 at the Carter Center and needed overtime to down UVa.-Wise 80-77 last season on the road. The all-time series between the two teams is equally as close as the Cavaliers hold a 13-11 edge. Bolte was able to close things down in this season's win with 22 of his 33 points after halftime. Rodgers added 20 points in the Concord win. Last season at UVa.-Wise, Brisco had a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Mountain Lions had a 58-35 rebounding advantage.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4- Concord has won four straight home games over West Virginia State.

17- Offensive rebounds for CU at Urbana, tying the most this season. The mark was previously set against UVa.-Wise and at Fairmont State.

110- Three-pointers made by Rodgers this season, fourth most in a single-season at Concord.

WEST VIRGINIA STATE AT A GLANCE
Gus Stone did not play in the first matchup between Concord and West Virginia State on December 1 due to injury, but he's averaging 16.3 points per game. The Yellow Jackets have allowed CU to score 90 or more points in six of the last eight meetings dating back to the 2014-15 season. West Virginia State has lost four straight since an 80-65 win at West Virginia Wesleyan, but nearly erased a nine-point deficit in the final 27 seconds against Shepherd before falling 87-86 last Thursday.

UVA.-WISE AT A GLANCE
The Cavaliers also had one of their best players miss the first meeting with Concord in guard Michal Seals. The junior recently tallied his 500^th career assist. Seals is averaging 16.8 points per game and leads the MEC with 7.4 assists per game in 18 contests. By sweeping the Ohio schools, UVa.-Wise catapulted itself into 10^th place as it starts the week one game ahead of Glenville State for the final MEC Tournament spot. UVa.-Wise possesses one of the best freshmen in the league in Briggs Parris who is scoring 16.7 points per game and is second in the MEC in three-pointers behind Concord's Rodgers with 100.