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Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team faces one of its stiffest tests of the season when it takes its 10-game winning streak on the road to face nationally-ranked, 20
th-rated West Liberty 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon inside the ASRC in a Mountain East Conference game.
LIVE COVERAGE
The West Liberty Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics and live video of Saturday's contest.Â
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SERIES HISTORY: West Liberty leads 43-24
LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WEST LIBERTY
January 17, 2024: West Liberty 91 - Concord 79 (Athens, W.Va.)
March 3, 2023: West Liberty 96 - Concord 72 (Wheeling, W.Va.)
February 11, 2023: West Liberty 127 - Concord 79 (West Liberty, W.Va.)
January 4, 2023: West Liberty 113 - Concord 97 (Athens, W.Va.)
February 12, 2022: West Liberty 107 - Concord 86 (Athens, W.Va.)
CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 20-4
MEC Record: 13-4
Home Record: 10-2
Away Record: 9-2
Neutral Record: 1-0
CAREER NIGHT
In Concord's 98-70 victory over Wheeling Wednesday night, senior guard
JJ Harper recorded his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. He notched a career high in rebounding while also setting a single-game best with four blocks. Harper has now scored 20 or more points in three straight games, the longest streak of his career. Additionally, the Gotha, Florida native is averaging 14.4 points per game in CU's 10-game winning streak and has scored in double figures in eight of the 10 games. Also on Wednesday night, sophomore
Rene Diop tied his career high with eight made field goals (8-of-9) as he finished a point shy of his career best with 16 points. And junior guard
Corey Boston equaled his career high with six rebounds in the win.
KEEP IT ROLLING
Concord's 10-game winning streak is the longest in the MEC this season, and the longest streak for a conference school since West Liberty won 18 consecutive games before losing in last season's National Championship Game. During CU's winning streak, the Mountain Lions are averaging 86.1 points per game and shooting 49.5 percent from the floor. CU has seen its points per game rise from 79.1 to 82.0 during the streak. And the Maroon and Gray has held six teams at or below 40 percent shooting, including 33.8 percent by Wheeling on Wednesday. Along with Harper, sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert (14.7 points per game), fifth-year senior forward
Jevon Laidler (12.6 points per game) and Diop (12.1 points) are all averaging more than their season average in scoring. CU's win streak is tied for fourth longest active in Division II with Fort Lewis, Northwest Missouri State and Southeastern Oklahoma.
EVERYONE SCORES
Even with Harper going over 20 points for the third consecutive game, Concord had five other players finish in double figures in Wednesday's win. Diop put together third game in the last four with 15 or more points. Senior guard
Jordan Wooden added 13 points. Sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert needed just six shots to score his 11 points. Laidler notched 10 points, and sophomore forward
Ayden Ince came off the bench to score in double figures for the fourth time this season. Ince also had 12 points in his lone start of the season versus Bluefield State. Wednesday night marked the second time this season that CU has put six or more players in double figures, previously achieving the feat in a win over Glenville State, the first victory in the current streak.
MOUNTAIN MEETING
Saturday's game will go a long way in determining the top four seeds in the upcoming MEC Tournament. Concord starts the day with a conference record of 13-4, one game back of West Liberty for second place and two games back of first-place Charleston. Concord currently leads West Virginia State by one game for third spot in the conference standings. With Wednesday's win, Concord secured its 11
th all-time 20-win season, but just the fifth since 2000. And Saturday's contest not only features two of the top teams in the MEC this season, but it will be the Mountain Lions' first game going against a fellow 20-win team since the MEC Tournament Quarterfinals in 2019 when they matched up against West Liberty. CU was 20-9 entering the 2019 contest while WLU was 25-3.
REBOUNDS MATTER
In the first meeting this season, Concord fell to West Liberty 91-79 despite sporting a better field-goal percentage than the Hilltoppers (44.4-42.3). The biggest difference in the game was WLU holding a 46-33 rebounding margin—CU's biggest deficit of the year on the boards. Concord is 18-0 when it outrebounds opponents, but just 1-4 when it gets beat on the glass. West Liberty also outscored the Maroon and Gray 20-8 in second-chance points in the contest. CU has consistently been of the top three rebounding teams in Division II this season, and starts the weekend second in boards per game (44.2). Concord's rebounding margin of 8.1 is eighth in Division II. After a somewhat slow start to the year in rebounding, West Liberty has picked up its pace and now owns the MEC's fourth-best rebounding margin (3.8).
HANDLING THE PRESSURE
West Liberty forces more than 20 turnovers per game as it ranks third in Division II (20.6 per game). When the teams met in Athens in January, Concord took care of the ball and only gave the ball away 13 times. CU averages 12.8 turnovers per game, and has only turned it over 15 or more times four times this season. In the matchup with WLU a month ago, the Mountain Lions were forced to make individual plays as they were held to eight assists on 28 made field goals, and the only Concord player to record multiple assists was Wooden as he registered two. This season, WLU is allowing 14 assists per game to the opponent while Concord is averaging 13.5 assists per game in the last 10 contests.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
28- Concord's 28-point win Wednesday night was its largest margin of victory since December 2016.
33- West Liberty has only lost once in its last 33 home games, earlier this season to Charleston.
40- Tolbert has made 40 of it last 41 free throw attempts with the only miss coming two weeks against Salem.
WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 20-5
MEC Record: 14-3
Home Record: 13-1
Away Record: 7-2
Neutral Record: 0-2
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
The Hilltoppers returned to the national rankings this week after wins over Frostburg State and Fairmont State. WLU has nine players averaging between 8.5 points and 11.9 points per game this season. Zach Rasile and his 55 three-pointers lead the way with 11.8 points per game. Christian Montagues scored 11.7 points per game and is top five in the MEC with 4.4 assists per contest. John Korte (11.5), Ben Sarson (11.0) and Chaz Hinds (10.4) round out the double-figure scorers. WLU has allowed seven of the last nine opponents to shoot 45 percent or better from the floor.
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