Concord Readies for Road Trip to Charleston, Glenville State

Concord Stats - Charleston Stats - Glenville State Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team embarks on a three-game Mountain East Conference road swing beginning at Charleston 7:30 p.m. Wednesday before being back on the road against Glenville State 4:00 p.m. Sunday.

LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: Each school will have live in-game statistics of the games, courtesy of Charleston and Glenville State's Sports Information Department. 
Video: Live streaming video will also be available for the games. 

RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are 5-10 this season and 3-7 versus conference opponents.

Charleston is tied atop the MEC with a record of 8-2 and is 14-2 overall. Additionally, UC checks in at number 22 in this week's NABC Division II National Poll.

Glenville State stopped a five-game losing streak over the weekend and is now 9-7 overall and 6-4 in the league.

DOWN TO THE WIRE
At West Virginia Wesleyan, Concord made a furious comeback to force overtime, but lost 83-80 in the extra session. It marked the eighth time this season the Mountain Lions have been in a game decided by five points or fewer. Going back to the start of last season, CU has played in 19 games decided by five points or less. Last year, the two regular-season meetings with Charleston were decided by a combined nine points and required three overtimes. A similar score line transpired with Glenville State. Concord swept the Pioneers, but the two games were won by a combined seven
points. CU leads the MEC in games decided by five points or fewer this season with the next closest teams being Fairmont State and Notre Dame with six such games.

HELPING HAND
The Mountain Lions dished out a season-high 19 assists in an 80-63 win over Davis & Elkins Saturday to stop a five-game losing streak. The last time CU had 19 or more assists in a game was the MEC Semifinals against West Liberty last season. Though he was held under 10 points for just the second time this season, junior guard/forward Malik Johnson tied his career high with five assists. Freshman guard Ethan Heller recorded four assists while senior guard Trey Brisco matched Heller with four assists. Over his last four games, Heller has 15 assists to just four turnovers. In the last four games, Concord is averaging 13.2 assists per game.

LOCK EM DOWN
Coming off a career-best 31 points against Glenville State, Davis & Elkins' Donte Doleman was held to eight points on 3-for-13 shooting by Brisco, Concord's best on-ball defender. This season, Brisco has held Charleston's Drew Rackley to 2-for-13 shooting, Notre Dame's Larenz Thurman to 5-of-16 from the field and Frostburg State's Daniel Alexander to 3-for-13. Rackley and Thurman were All-MEC First Team guards a season ago while Alexander and Doleman are the second and fourth-leading scorers in the MEC this season. In the last three games guarding Rackley, Brisco has limited Charleston's leading scorer to 13-for-48 (27.1 percent) from the field. Brisco has also been stellar on the offensive end as of late, averaging 15.0 points per game while shooting 42.8 (12-for-28) from three-point range in the last five contests.

ALMOST AUTOMATIC
After shooting 60 percent or less from the foul line in two of the last four games, the Mountain Lions rebounded at the charity stripe to make 20-of-22 (90.9 percent) free throws on Saturday. It marked the first time CU made 90 percent or better from the foul line with at least 20 attempts since hitting on 25-of-27 (92.6 percent) against Bluefield State last January. Sophomore forward Cole Meadows led the way at the charity stripe against Davis & Elkins by hitting on 8-of-10 to aid his first career double-digit scoring game of 10 points. Sophomore guard Kam Harris was 4-for-4 at the foul line while senior guard Martin Kelly Jr. was 3-for-3 against the Senators. UC is third in the MEC in free-throw percentage (74.5) while Glenville State is fifth (71.5).

LET'S RUN
Charleston and Glenville State are both top five scoring offenses in the MEC, averaging 84.0 and 97.3 points per game, respectively. Charleston does it with efficiency as it ranks second nationally in field goal percentage (52.9) behind forwards Lamont McManus and Devon Robinson. McManus ranks fourth nationally in field goal percentage (67.8) while Robinson is 13^th (63.6). Meanwhile, GSC leads the MEC in three-pointers per game (13.0), and is third in Division II. Defensively, Concord is third in the league in field-goal defense (44.7). Earlier this season, the Mountain Lions held Charleston to 43.3 percent in an 86-78 win. In four of the last five games overall, Concord has limited its opponents to 42 percent or less from the floor.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4-  Consecutive wins by Concord over Charleston

43- Three-point percentage by CU at Glenville State last season as it shot better from three-point range than two (43.8-42.0).

65- Points scored by Tommy Bolte at Charleston last season, the most in a Division II game in 42 years.

CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Along with McManus and Robinson, point guard Seth O'Neal is shooting over 50 percent from the field (51.7 percent). Rackley, Robinson, McManus, and O'Neal are all averaging double figures along with sixth man Eddie Colbert who scores 10.4 points per game off the bench. The only other loss for Charleston this season was a 78-72 road defeat against Fairmont State December 4. The last time the Golden Eagles had a game decided by single digits was at FSU as during their nine-game winning streak the closest game has been 10 points, twice. With the size of McManus and Robinson, Charleston has the MEC's best rebounding margin (+10.2).

GLENVILLE STATE AT A GLANCE
GSC stopped its losing streak in style by downing West Virginia Wesleyan, 91-71, Saturday. To aid the Pioneers' three-point shooting, Phil Bledsoe throws in an MEC-best 2.9 three-pointers per game. Seven different Glenville State players have made at least 20 three-pointers this season. Bledsoe also leads the conference in scoring at 22.5 points per game while averaging 9.6 rebounds per contest, second in the MEC. GSC has six players scoring 8.8 or more points per game. In two defeats to Concord last season, the Pioneers were outgunned as they shot 51 and 46 percent. However, CU made a combined 28 three-pointers across the two contests and only turned the ball over a combined 14 times in two games.