Concord Hosts Nationally-Ranked West Liberty in MEC Showdown

Concord Stats - West Liberty Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team seeks its third consecutive win when it welcomes West Liberty, the 20th-ranked team in Division II, to the Carter Center 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference tilt.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Concord University Sports Information Department will have live in-game statistics and live video of the game.

Live Stats
Live Video

SERIES HISTORY: West Liberty leads 42-24

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WEST LIBERTY
March 3, 2023: #5 West Liberty 96 - Concord 72 (Wheeling, W.Va.)
February 11, 2023: #12 West Liberty 127 - Concord 79 (West Liberty, W.Va.)
January 4, 2023: #9 West Liberty 113 - Concord 97 (Athens, W.Va.)
February 12, 2022: #4 West Liberty 107 - Concord 86 (Athens, W.Va.)
January 5, 2022: #8 West Liberty 85 - Concord 67 (West Liberty, W.Va.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 9-2
MEC Record: 5-2
Home Record: 4-1
Away Record: 4-1
Neutral Record: 1-0

DYNAMIC DUO
Concord leaned on senior guard JJ Harper and sophomore guard Kollin Tolbert in Saturday's 85-73 win over Davis & Elkins. Harper poured in a season-high 25 points as he finished 11-for-19 from the floor in tallying his fifth career 20-point game. Harper was voted Co-MEC Player of the Week—along with West Liberty's Alek West—for his performance last week that included averaging 17.5 points per game. Meanwhile, Tolbert came alive after halftime as he scored 16 of his 20 points versus Davis & Elkins in the second half. Tolbert added six rebounds and a career-high five assists in the victory. He finished 9-of-12 at the foul line, a season high for made free throws. Saturday was the first time this season CU had multiple 20-point games in the same contest.

HEATING UP
After being held down to 31 points in the first half by Davis & Elkins, the Mountain Lions erupted for 54 points in the second half, a season high for points in a half. Additionally, Concord shot 55.6 percent in the second half to rally from the small 35-31 deficit at halftime. The victory over Davis & Elkins was keyed by shooting a season-best 47.4 percent from three-point range (9-for-19). CU also shot 47.8 percent overall, the second-highest percentage this winter. After shooting 27.1 percent from three-point range over the first eight games of the season, Concord has made 39.7 percent (27-for-68) of its three-pointers over the last three games while making at least eight three-pointers in each game. Senior guard Jordan Wooden is 47 percent from three-point range in the last three games while junior forward Amare Smith has connected on four of his seven three-pointers in the last three contests.

HERE TO ASSIST
With the shooting numbers climbing for CU recently, the assist total for the Maroon and Gray has also been on the rise. In the last three games, the Mountain Lions are averaging 14 assists per game, including dishing out a season-best 14 versus Davis & Elkins. With Tolbert pacing the field Saturday, Smith also set a new career high with three assists. Fifth-year senior forward Jevon Laidler and Wooden chipped in three assists each. On the other sideline, West Liberty leads Division II in assists per game with 24.8 with only three teams in the country tallying more than 20 assists per game. Individually, Tolbert and Wooden are tied for the CU lead with 2.5 assists per game. West Liberty's Christian Montague is third in the MEC with 4.9 assists per game.

BALANCING ACT
Wednesday's contest will feature 16 players that are scoring at least seven points per game (seven for Concord, nine for West Liberty). Entering Saturday's game, Smith was leading CU in scoring at 12.4 points per game. However, Tolbert is now the team leader (12.6 points) with Harper netting 12.2 points per contest. Wooden (11.5), Smith (11.4) and Laidler (10.3) round out the double-figure scorers for Concord. Junior guard Corey Boston (7.2) and sophomore forward Rene Diop (7.2) are netting at least seven points per game. Even though, West Liberty scores 102 points per game, third in Division II, no one scores more than Montague's 12.6 points per game. West Liberty has had at least one player score 20 points per game in five of the last six seasons.

KEEPING THEM IN CHECK
West Liberty's 102 points per game is led by making 12.8 three-pointers per game, tops in Division II, as it shoots a respectable 36.8 percent from beyond the arc. Concord has the MEC's best three-point defense limiting teams to 29.6 percent from beyond the arc, also 16^th in Division II. In wins over West Virginia Wesleyan and Davis & Elkins, CU limited the three-point shooting to 6-for-32 combined. WLU has been held under 10 made three-pointers three times this season—two instances in a narrow 91-85 win over Davis & Elkins and a 112-101 loss to Dominican (NY). Four different players have made at least 25 three-pointers in 2023-24, led by 34 from Chaz Hinds who shoots 40.5 percent from deep.

DUE TIME
CU has lost six straight games to West Liberty, dating back to a 91-83 victory at the Carter Center in January 2021. That win stopped an eight-game winning streak by WLU in the all-time series. In a 113-97 home loss to West Liberty last January, seven different Concord players recorded double figures led by Laidler's 20 points. Smith notched 11 points while Harper and Wooden went for 10 points each. West Liberty got loose for 16 three-pointers versus the Mountain Lions while Concord was just 4-for-12 from three-point range. WLU won 127-79 at home last season despite the halftime score being just 58-51. And West Liberty defeated CU 96-72 in the quarterfinals of the MEC Tournament.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5- Seasons since Concord started the year with a 9-2 record.

46.8- Average rebounds for CU per game, number one in Division II.

54- Shooting percentage for CU in last year's home game against West Liberty.

WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 11-3
MEC Record: 6-1
Home Record: 8-0
Away Record: 3-1
Neutral Record: 0-2

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
West Liberty shook off a stretch that saw it lose three of four games in December as it has won three straight games ahead of Wednesday's meeting. Along with Montague, WLU's other double-figure scorers are Zach Rasile (11.8), Hinds (11.5), Wheeling transfer John Korte (11.2) and Ben Sarson (10.6). Traditionally, a great rebounding team West Liberty is only rebounding opponents by 1.3 (39.6-38.3) on average this year. The Hilltoppers do go get 13.5 offensive rebounds per game. Head coach Ben Howlett coached his 200^th career game in Saturday's win over Fairmont State for his 172^nd win at WLU.