The Notre Dame College Falcons and the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons will battle in the key game on the MEC slate Saturday from Joe Retton Arena. You can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com as tip time is set for 4 PM.
NDC (11-4 7-2 MEC) has won three straight and is coming off a 87-78 win at Shepherd on Thursday night. Will Vorhees had a season high 38 points to go along with 14 rebounds- Larenz Thurman scored 21 of his 23 in the second half- and- Isaiah Sanders added 11 in the victory. NDC shot 53 percent as a team- 42 percent (10-24) from the 3-point line- and- 65 percent (11-17) from the free throw line in the game.
Vorhees leads the season box score for the Falcons averaging 24.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per night- Thurman scores 17.5 a game- as well as dishing out 4.9 assists a contest- while Sanders (12.7 ppg-) and- Halil Parks (10.7 ppg) also average in double figures. The Falcons come into the game averaging 84.2 points per game on the offensive end- while they allow 77.2 on the defensive end. NDC averages five more free throw attempts than the opponent (18.1-13.1-) and- has a slight rebounding advantage (39.5-37.2.)
Fairmont (11-4 8-1 MEC) is coming off a 78-76 loss to Urbana that was the team's first conference loss of the season. The Fighting Falcons shot 48 percent from the field- 39 percent from the 3-point line (9-23-) and- 65 percent (15-23) at the free throw line. Kenzie Melko led the way with 25 points- Vonte Montgomery added 20- and- Jason Jolly netted 17.
On the season Jolly leads the team in scoring at 17.7 per game- Montgomery puts up 15.9 points- leads the team in rebounding at 6.9 per night- as well as assists at 3.7 per game- while Cole Van Handorf chips in 10.7 points per game. As a team the Fighting Falcons score 85.5 per night- while they give up 78.3 per night.
Tim Koenig talked about the matchup:
" We have our work cut out for us. Fairmont is on top of the league for a reason. They have really good players. Vonte is really good- Jolly and Van Handorf can shoot it. They have some really good athletes- and- some guys who have really hurt us in the past who are really good around the rim."
Bruce Hodges and Will Vorhees agreed:
" This is the biggest conference game of the season. We can really build momentum and help our conference standing with a win. We need to play our game to get to where we want to be and get to 1-0 on the day."
Vorhees talked about the one thing that has been learned this season:
" We know that any given team can beat anybody on any given night in this league."
Hodges talked about effort:
" We need to play hard for all 40 minutes. We got the win Thursday night but we took our foot of the gas pedal and we can not do that against a team like Fairmont."
Vorhees spoke about the crowd:
" Honestly if we play our game the crowd will not be a factor. They will not be a factor if they have nothing to cheer about."
Hodges agreed:
" We have the best point guard in the league- we think in the country and he can dictate any game.If they make a run and get the crowd hyped we will respond with a run of our own."
Other MEC Games Saturday:
Concord @ West Liberty
West Virginia State @ West Virginia Wesleyan
Charleston @ Glenville State
Virginia Wise @Wheeling Jesuit
Urbana @ Shepherd
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 8-1 (11-4)
West Liberty 8-1 (12-2)
NDC 7-2 (11-4)
Concord 6-3 (10-4)
Charleston 5-4 (10-5)
Shepherd 5-4 (9-6)
West Virginia State 4-5 (7-8)
West Virginia Wesleyan 3-6 (6-9)
Urbana 3-6 (5-8)
Virginia Wise 3-6 (5-9)
Glenville State 2-7 (7-8)
Wheeling Jesuit 0-9 (1-14)
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