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ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University men's basketball team returns to the court from the Christmas break when it hosts West Virginia Wesleyan 7:30 p.m. Thursday in a Mountain East Conference game at the Carter Center.
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SERIES HISTORY: Concord leads 39-36
LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN
February 14, 2024: Concord 83 - West Virginia Wesleyan 63 (Athens, W.Va.)
January 10, 2024: Concord 80 - West Virginia Wesleyan 69 (Buckhannon, W.Va.)
February 15, 2023: Concord 82 - West Virginia Wesleyan 60 (Athens, W.Va.)
January 11, 2023: Concord 78 - West Virginia Wesleyan 64 (Buckhannon, W.Va.)
February 16, 2022: Concord 88 - West Virginia Wesleyan 80 (Buckhannon, W.Va.)
CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 3-6
MEC Record: 2-3
Home Record: 2-1
Away Record: 1-5
SENIOR SHOW
Senior guard
Corey Boston and senior forward
Amare Smith continued to flex their muscles in the early portion of their senior seasons versus nationally-ranked Fairmont State on December 15. Smith tied for the game high in scoring with his third career 20-point game by recording 20 points on 6-for-12 shooting that included making three three-pointers. The Huntington, West Virginia native's only other 20-point games came last year versus Bluefield State in November and as a freshman in February 2022 when he tallied a career-best 28 points. Smith has scored in double figures in all nine games this year and is 18
th in the MEC in scoring (13.2). Meanwhile, Boston went for 16 points, six assists and three steals versus Fairmont State. Though he missed three games earlier this year, Boston is 14
th in the MEC in scoring (15.2), fourth in assists (4.3) and second in steals (2.5). Boston only scored 188 points last year, but has scored 91 points already this year.
GET TO THE LINE
One of Concord's trademarks through nine games has been the ability to march to the foul line, and make its free throws. The Mountain Lions are second in the MEC in free throws attempted per game (25.6). And CU only trails Wheeling in the conference in terms of free-throw shooting percentage. Concord is shooting 77.1 percent at the foul line this winter. The Maroon and Gray ranks 29
th in Division II in free throw percentage. Individually, Smith is second in the MEC in free throw percentage at 88.2 percent. Boston is sixth (84.0 percent) while Tolbert is seventh (83.9 percent) in the conference. CU is coming off a game where it made 91.3 percent at the foul line (21-for-23), and CU has shot 70 percent or better at the charity stripe in seven of nine game this year.
TURN 'EM OVER
In the 77-76 defeat versus Fairmont State, the Mountain Lions turned the Fighting Falcons over 18 times in the contest which was the most turnovers forced by CU this year, and it was the most turnovers forced by the Maroon and Gray since January 2023 at Glenville State when CU also pushed GSU into 19 turnovers. Along with Boston's three steals, redshirt freshman guard
Brendan Hoffman notched two steals. The nine steals that Concord nabbed against the Fighting Falcons were the second most of the year. Not known as a high, ball-pressure defense, Concord is forcing nearly 12 turnovers per game this season, up from 9.5 opponent turnovers last winter.
BEATING THE BOBCATS
Concord carries a nine-game win streak over West Virginia Wesleyan into action Wednesday night. The last four wins for the Mountain Lions have been by double digits, including an 80-69 win at Wesleyan's Rockefeller Center, and an 83-63 home win over the Bobcats last year. On February 14 of last year, junior forward
Rene Diop was 8-for-9 from the field in scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against WVWC. Tolbert was limited to four points, but dished out a career-high 10 assists in the win. Smith came off the bench with 11 points. Smith (14) and Boston (12) led the scoring at Wesleyan last season. Two of Diop's six career double-doubles have come in the last two home game versus West Virginia Wesleyan. Smith is averaging 12.3 points per contest in his last four games against the Bobcats.
EXTRA OPPORTUNITIES
CU is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the MEC at 13.8 offensive boards per contest, second in the conference. Meanwhile, West Virginia Wesleyan is 11
th in offensive rebounding (8.6 per game). With the offensive rebounding success, the Mountain Lions are averaging 15.2 second-chance points per game in 2024-25, and has netted at least 15 second-chance points in four straight game, and eight of nine games this year. Diop has led the offensive rebounding parade by being tied for fourth in the MEC (3.1 per game). Freshman forward
Kraig Gilbert is tied for 11
th in the conference in offensive rebounds (2.1 per game). Tolbert is also top 20 in the MEC in offensive rebounds per game (1.6). Diop has four games of at least five offensive rebounds this year.
FIND THE SHOOTERS
Concord limited Fairmont State to 31.6 percent (6-for-19) from three-point range, four percent and five less three-point makes than the Fighting Falcons average this season. The Mountain Lions will have another tough assignment against West Virginia Wesleyan. WVWC's Alex Mirhosseini (42.9 percent) and Michael Batchelor (39.5 percent) are second and third in the MEC in three-point shooting. The pair combine to make six three-pointers per game. The CU defense held Mirhosseini to 4-for-11 from three-point range in two games last season, and overall the Bobcats were 10-for-31 from three-point distance against Concord in 2023-24. WVWC is second in the MEC in three-point shooting this year (37.1 percent) while CU's three-point defense of 33.3 percent is third in the conference.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5- Blocks needed by Diop to become the sixth player in program history to reach 100 for his career.
8- Concord's last three losses have come by a total of eight points.
55.2- Percentage shot by Concord in last year's home win over WVWC.
WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 2-9
MEC Record: 0-5
Home Record: 0-3
Away Record: 0-5
Neutral Record: 1-1
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Mirhosseini is ninth in the MEC in scoring (15.8 points per game) while Batchelor is just outside the top 15 in scoring (17
th/14.7 points). West Virginia Wesleyan is 11
th in the conference in points per game (68.2 points), but WVWC shoots a respectable 43.1 percent from the floor, eighth in the MEC. Curtis Litton scored in double figures in both games versus Concord last year with 15 points at the Carter Center.
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