Concord Faces Charleston in MEC Quarterfinals

Concord Stats - Charleston Stats - Live Audio - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team faces Charleston in the MEC Tournament Quarterfinals 2:30 p.m. Friday at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.

LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and Steve Cox will provide live radio play-by-play coverage of the contest on 94.5 "Willie" FM and streaming online at www.mywillie.com
Stats: The MEC will provie live in-game statistics of the contest. 
Video: The MEC and WVMetroNews will have live streaming video of Friday's game. 

RECORDS
The Mountain Lions finished the regular season with a mark of 14-14 overall and 11-11 against MEC competition.

Charleston is squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble at 22-6 overall and 17-5 in the conference.

90 AND BETTER
CU reached the .500 mark to finish the regular season as it picked up a road victory at Glenville State 90-80 Saturday afternoon. It was the second straight game that Concord reached 90 points after a 101-94 overtime loss at West Virginia State earlier in the week. The Mountain Lions had not reached 90 points in back-to-back contests since January 2019 against West Liberty and Charleston. Concord is scoring 81.3 points per game this winter, but since the start of February—a nine-game stretch—the Maroon and Gray is averaging 87.4 points per game and has scored at least 80 points in all nine games, a first since the 2010-11 season. Additionally, the Mountain Lions have shot at least 45 percent in 11 of their last 13 games. And over the last 13 games, CU has hit on 10 or more three three-pointers 10 times.

BALANCE BEAM
Over the last six games, Concord has had at least four double-figure scorers including three games with five double-digit point getters. And CU is sixth in the MEC in scoring despite only two guys averaging double-figures, fifth-year senior guard Matt Weir (16.4) and fifth-year senior forward Lual Daniel Rahama (15.0) The Mountain Lions finished the regular season with back-to-back games of five guys scoring 10 or more points. No player had more than 19 points against either Glenville State or West Virginia State. Weir netted 19 points at WVSU while freshman forward Amare Smith led the way with 18 points to go with 10 rebounds against Glenville State, his second double-double in the last three games. Entering the MEC Tournament, CU has seven guys averaging at least seven points for the season, one of five teams in the league to do so. The last time a Concord team had seven guys average seven points for the season was 2016-17, head coach Todd May's first season.

WINNING TIME
In each of the six seasons under Coach May, the Mountain Lions have always peaked at the right time of the season. In the months of February and March, Concord is 36-24 under Coach May as opposed to 47-56 in November-January. Additionally, CU has made the MEC Tournament Quarterfinals under Coach May in four of his previous five seasons and made back-to-back appearances in the MEC Semifinals in 2018 and 2019. A career scoring average of 11.8, junior guard Ethan Heller has kicked it up to 13.1 points per game in February and March in his career, a stretch of 31 games. Last season, Heller tossed in 28 points in the MEC Tournament's First Round against Davis & Elkins. The Thornville, Ohio native enters the MEC Tournament this season having made 17-of-36 three-pointers in the last eight games (47.2 percent) while shooting 51.6 percent (31-of-60) from the field in the last nine contests.

HOT SHOTS
Heller isn't the only one that has found the stroke from either three-point range, the field overall or in some cases both. With his career winding down, senior guard Brandon Kennedy has hit on 46.1 percent (18-for-39) from beyond the arc over the last eight games and has made at least two three-pointers in seven of those contests. Furthermore, Kennedy needs six more triples to become the 15^th player in program history with 150 career made three-pointers. Since being inserted into the starting lineup 11 games ago, sophomore guard Jordan Wooden has made 49.5 percent of his shots (59-for-119) while averaging 13.3 points per game. Rahama finished the regular season with a flurry as he returned after a brief two-game absence with injury. The Newport News, Virginia native shot 51.9 percent (53-for-102) in the final nine games of the regular season as he shot 50 percent or better from the floor in seven games. Two of the best three-point shooters in the MEC will be on display Friday in Weir and Charleston's Eddie Colbert. Weir is second in the MEC in three-point shooting (41.6) while Colbert is third (41.0). Weir was a combined 4-for-9 from three-point range against UC in the two regular season games while Colbert was 8-of-15.

STRENGTH ON STRENGTH
Even though the MEC has hung its hat in scoring points in bunch for several years, the Mountain Lions are near the top of the conference in few critical defensive areas. CU ranks second in the conference in field-goal defense (45.3 percent). Concord has never been lower than third this season in three-point defense as the Maroon and Gray currently leads the league in the statistic (31.2). And the Mountain Lions are the second-best defensive rebounding team in the MEC, averaging 27.6 defensive rebounds per game and grabbing 73.7 percent of opponents' misses. Individually, Rahama is eighth in the MEC in defensive boards per game (4.8). One of the best defenses meets the league's most efficient offense Friday afternoon as Charleston shoots an MEC-best 52.6 percent for the season which is also second in Division II behind Belmont Abbey. UC shot 52 and 55 percent against Concord this season. However, CU enters the MEC Tournament having held five of the last seven teams to below 45 percent from the floor.

HERE WE GO AGAIN
Friday afternoon will be the third meeting between Concord and Charleston in the MEC Tournament in the last seven seasons with all three meetings coming in the quarterfinals. The Mountain Lions have won both previous meetings, in 2016 and 2019. And oddly enough, both games had similar score lines, 75-61 in 2016 and 74-62 in 2019. While Charleston does possess one of the best offenses in Division II, the win for UC at Concord in January came with the Maroon and Gray playing with only seven players. One of the players missing from that game was one of the best defenders in the MEC in Wooden. He and Kennedy have teamed up as two of the best individual on-ball defenders in the league this season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1- Losses by Concord when leading at halftime this season. The Mountain Lions held a 42-41 edge on UC at home in January before dropping the game.

7- Career wins for Coach May against Charleston, including a season sweep of three games in 2018-19.

100- Career games played by Kennedy, one 14 players in program history with 100 games and 100 three-pointers.

CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Keith Williams, Lamont McManus and Jeremiah Keene are all shooting at least 50 percent from the floor. And that trio along with Colbert average at least 11 points per game with Colbert leading the way at 14.2 points per game. The Golden Eagles have won three straight over Concord dating back to last season's win at the Carter Center and haven't defeated CU in four straight games since February 2013 to January 2015. Colbert averaged 22 points in two games against the Mountain Lions this season. In 11 career games versus Concord, McManus is averaging 15.1 points per game. The Golden Eagles enter the MEC Tournament having won eight of their last 10 games with the lone losses to West Liberty and West Virginia State.