Concord Stats -
Bluefield State Stats -
Live Audio -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team looks to continue its success against Mercer Country rival Bluefield State when it travels to Ned Shott Gymnasium 7:30 p.m. Monday night for a non-conference tilt.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will have live radio coverage of Monday's game on 94.5 "Willie" FM and online at www.mywillie.com
Stats: Live in-game statistics will be available for the game.
Video: Bluefield State will provide live streaming video of the contest.
RECORDS
Concord is 10-13 this season after a setback versus nationally-ranked West Liberty.
Bluefield State had a four-game win streak snapped last Monday versus Charleston, and is 6-11 this season.
HOT SHOTS
The Mountain Lions shot 46.4 percent versus the Hilltoppers and hit just under 38 percent from three-point range in Saturday's game at the Carter Center. However, WLU matched Concord's shooting percentage by nailing 46.6 percent of its shots. And West Liberty got off 17 more shot attempts than CU (73-56). Saturday was the first time this season that Concord had shot 45 percent in a game and didn't win secure a win. In fact, it was just the third time in the last 41 games that the Mountain Lions had shot better than 45 percent and didn't come out victorious, and two of those three losses have come to WLU. Fifth-year senior forward
Lual Daniel Rahama had his best shooting game in the Maroon and Gray by going 7-for-9 from the field for 16 points. Freshman forward
Amare Smith was 4-of-7 and one point off his career high with 15 versus West Liberty. Junior guard
Ethan Heller threw in a 4-for-8 effort and netted 13 points off the bench.
MARCH TO THE LINE
The Mountain Lions attempted 38 free throws on Saturday, making 27 of the tries from the charity stripe. The 38 foul shots were the most for Concord since a visit to Bluefield State in January 2013 when the Maroon and Gray lined up at the charity stripe 40 times, hitting 32 attempts. The 27 makes at the foul line were the most since CU did it twice during the 2018-19 season, at West Virginia State and at West Liberty. On Saturday, fifth-year senior guard
Matt Weir led the way at the foul line as he hit 12-of-14 free throws versus West Liberty. Weir's 14 attempts on Saturday are the fifth most in an MEC game this season. The Nashport, Ohio native is second in the MEC in fee-throw shooting (87.2). And as a team, CU is up over 70 percent from the foul line (70.1 percent) for the first time since the conclusion of the second game of the season. Concord has been 70 percent or better from the foul line in eight straight games.
SAME GAME
Monday's contest will resemble a similar style of play to Saturday's contest with the Hilltoppers. First-year BSC head coach Devin Hoehn was a former standout player for Jim Crutchfield who made West Liberty's high-tempo, high-pressure style nationally-recognized. Hoehn also spent time as an assistant with Crutchfield at Nova Southeastern in Florida. The Mountain Lions defeated Bluefield State 92-87 at the Carter Center in November as it shot 51.4 percent from the floor and scored 54 points in the paint to offset 20 turnovers, the second-most in a game this season. Senior forward
Da'Vion Moore gave the Mountain Lions a lift with a career-best 20 points as he shot 9-of-10 from the floor with four dunks. Heller notched 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Weir flirted with a triple-double of 10 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Sophomore guard
Jordan Wooden tallied his first career game in double figures as he scored 11 off the bench. Wooden is coming off a career-best 11 rebounds Saturday.
NEXT UNIT
For the sixth time this season on Saturday, the Concord bench posted 30 or more points as it tallied 32 points versus West Liberty. Heller and Rahama led the way as the pair combined for 29 points. Against Bluefield State in November, CU's reserves just missed the 30-point mark as it scored 28 points. Along with Wooden, junior forward
Jevon Laidler came off the Concord bench to score six points in 10 minutes. Since scoring a season-low two points at Alderson-Broaddus, the CU bench has posted 24, 26, 27 and 32 in the last four games. Rahama is averaging 13.7 points per game in the last four contests off the bench while shooting 57.5 percent, more than 10 percentage points higher than his season shooting totals.
EASY LOOKS
While the Mountain Lions were an efficient 8-of-20 from three-point range versus Bluefield with Heller (three) and Wooden (two) combining for five of the triples, Concord had the most success in the paint versus Bluefield State in November. In the paint alone, CU shot 55 percent (27-for-49) versus 43.3 percent from anyone else on the floor against BSC. Similarly, on Saturday versus West Liberty—a team that runs the same system—the Mountain Lions shot 56 percent (18-of-32) in the paint. Even though the Mountain Lions did have some trouble with Bluefield State's pressure in November, Moore was the beneficiary on the press break as all nine of his field goals came in the paint. Five of the six made shots for Rahama were conversions in and around the restricted arc.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4- Career-high tying in blocks for Moore versus Bluefield State in November.
6- Consecutive wins over Bluefield State for the Mountain Lions, including the 100
th all-time meeting earlier this season.
23- Assists for Concord against BSC in the first game, second-most in 2021-22.
BLUEFIELD STATE AT A GLANCE
Marquez Cooper averages 19.3 points per game and shoots 48 percent from the floor. Jordan Hines pitches in 15.1 points per game. Landry Palata is the third and final player that notches double digits with 11.1 points per contest. Cooper had 19 points and 13 rebounds versus Concord in November. While the Mountain Lions posted 54 points in the paint, Bluefield State had 52 paint points. BSC had 23 points off 20 Concord turnovers in November. Bluefield State was held to five three-pointers by a stingy CU three-point defense in the first matchup.
