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Tournament Central
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team makes its first Mountain East Conference Semifinal appearance since 2019 when it faces nationally-ranked, 13
th-rated West Liberty 8:30 p.m. Saturday inside WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.
LIVE COVERAGE
The Mountain East Conference will have live statistics of the game. WVMetronews will have live streaming video on the MEC Digital Network. The game will also be broadcast on SportsNet Pittsburgh.Â
Live Stats
Live Video
SERIES HISTORY: West Liberty leads 44-24
LAST FIVE MEETING VERSUS WEST LIBERTY
February 24, 2024: #20 West Liberty 89 - Concord 76 (West Liberty, W.Va.)
January 17, 2024: #20 West Liberty 91 - Concord 79 (Athens, W.Va.)
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.)
CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 22-6
MEC Record: 14-6
Home Record: 11-2
Away Record: 9-4
Neutral Record: 2-0
BEAT EM ON THE BOARDS
The rebounding margin played a significant role in Concord's 82-74 win over Davis & Elkins in the quarterfinal round. CU held a 25-22 edge in rebounds at halftime, but outrebounded the Senators 26-18 in the second half. Sophomore guard
Kollin Tolbert tallied his fifth double-double of the season, tying sophomore forward
Rene Diop for the team lead, with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Diop and senior guard
JJ Harper gathered in eight rebounds while fifth-year senior forward
Jevon Laidler hauled in seven rebounds. Friday afternoon was the seventh time this year that Concord has recorded 50 or more rebounds, and it was the third time that CU has grabbed at least 50 boards in back-to-back games: IUP and Pitt-Johnstown (Nov. 10-11), Notre Dame and Frostburg State (Dec. 2 and Dec. 6) and Glenville State (Saturday) and Davis & Elkins (Friday).
CLOSING TIME
Tolbert helped seal the CU win Friday afternoon by scoring eight of Concord's final 16 points. The Cincinnati, Ohio native has made a habit of coming up clutch for the Mountain Lions this season. After Friday's game, Tolbert now has 69 clutch-time points on the season—points scored in the final three minutes of the game when the score is within 10 points. The rest of the Concord roster has 80 points in clutch time this season. Furthermore, Tolbert is 37-for-44 at the foul line in the final three minutes of games this season (84 percent), and as a team the Maroon and Gray is 81.0 percent at the foul line in the final three minutes of game this season, seven points higher than the overall foul shooting. CU was 8-for-8 at the foul line in the final three minutes Friday.
BLUE COLLAR DEFENSE
In defeating D&E, the Mountain Lions locked down Davis & Elkins and held the Senators to 38.1 percent shooting, including 35.1 percent in the second half. Friday was the 13
th time this season that CU has limited an opponent to 40 percent or less shooting. Concord is 21
st in Division II in field-goal defense (41.0) while it leads Division II in both defensive rebounds per game (35.1) and overall rebounding (44.6). Because of the the Mountain Lions' ability to defensive rebound, they have only allowed 20 or more second-chance points three times this season, at Fairmont State, at home versus West Liberty and at Glenville State. West Liberty leads the MEC in offensive rebounds per game (13.8).
TOURNAMENT RIVALRY
Saturday will be the sixth time in the 11-year history of the MEC Tournament that Concord and West Liberty will face one another. It is the most common matchup in the MEC Tournament, breaking a tie between Fairmont State and West Liberty who have faced each other five times. All six meetings between CU and WLU have come between since 2016, and Saturday's contest will be the fourth time Concord and the Hilltoppers square off in the MEC Tournament since 2020. The Mountain Lions were defeated 96-72 by WLU last season in the MEC Quarterfinals. Laidler was one of three players in double figures as he finished with 10 points. Harper and junior forward
Amare Smith both had nine points. West Liberty shot 51.5 percent in the win.
CONTROL THE PACE
In both regular season games this season, Concord held West Liberty under its season average in points of 99.1. At the Carter Center in January, CU trailed by as much as 21 points late in the first half before cutting the deficit to two points two different times in the second half. However, WLU escaped with a 91-79 win. CU had a better field-goal percentage than the Hilltoppers in the first game (44.4-42.3). At West Liberty, the game featured 10 ties and 20 lead changes before WLU outscored the Mountain Lions 22-9 over the final nine minutes in an 89-76 victory. Concord played through Diop in the paint who had a career-best 26 points in the contest. Tolbert added a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds.
DISTANCE DEFENSE
In two games this season, the Maroon and Gray held West Liberty to 16 combined three-pointers, seven in January and nine two weeks ago at West Liberty's ASRC. In both games, WLU took 24 attempts from three-point range. The Hilltoppers average 12.5 three-pointers made per game, and sunk 18 triples in their MEC Quarterfinal win over Glenville State. CU has the fourth-best three-point defense in the MEC at 33.6 percent, and the Mountain Lions give up the fourth-fewest three-three-pointers in the conference, 211 for the season or 7.5 per game. Concord is 15-1 this season when it allows eight or fewer three-pointers with the lone loss coming at home to WLU. Offensively, the Mountain Lions are 8-1 when connecting on at least seven three-pointers.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
20- Lead changes between CU and WLU two weeks ago at West Liberty.
22- Wins on the year for Concord, the most since the 2015-16 team finished at 22-10.
138- Blocks on the season for CU, sixth most in program history for a single season. Last year's team is in fifth with 139 blocks.
WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 24-5
MEC Record: 17-3
Home Record: 14-1
Away Record: 9-2
Neutral Record: 1-2
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
Zach Rasile accounted for one-third of WLU's three-point barrage versus Glenville State as he finished with six three-pointers and 20 points in Friday's win. The Hilltoppers were outrebounded by Glenville State, 40-37. West Liberty has the longest active winning streak in the MEC as it enters the semifinal round having won nine consecutive games. The Hilltoppers are also seeking to extend a streak to five straight years of making the MEC Championship Game. Nine different players average between 8.6 and 11.7 points per game, including Rasile (11.7), Christian Montague (11.2), John Korte (11.1) and Ben Sarson (11.0), all at 11 points or better.
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