The Charleston Golden Eagles and Notre Dame College Falcons battled thru six ties and 10 lead changes on Saturday at the Wherle Innovation Center.. After being down by 11 with 5:08 to play in regulation NDC forced overtime but ultimately fell 86-81. With the loss NDC drops to 7-3 on the season and 4-2 in the MEC. After a third straight win Charleston improved to 7-3 and 3-3 in the MEC.
Coach Tim Koenig spoke about the fight in his team:
" Really proud of our guys fighting back tonight.We have a really good group of guys. We had a few things not go our way but we fought our tails off and had a chance to win the game in regulation."
Koenig spoke about the big change that got his team back in the game:
"When we were down 11 with five minutes to go we switched to playing zone and that really gave us a big lift."
Vorhees led the Falcons with 19 points and eight rebounds before fouling out late in regulation. Drew Scarberry drained five 3-pointer's on his way to 18 points- Isaiah Sanders had 14- and- Larenz Thurman netted 12 to go with seven rebounds- and- five assists. Halil Parks also scored in double figures with 11. NDC shot 42 percent from the field- 35 percent (10-29) from the 3-point line- and- 79 percent (19-24) from the free throw line. NDC had 14 assists and nine turnovers as a team.
Charleston was led by 23 points from Drew Rackley- Josh Floyd scored 17- while Devon Robinson and Seth O'Neal tallied 14 each. The Golden Eagles shot 51 percent from the floor- 48 percent (10-21) from the 3-point line-and- 74 percent (20-27) at the free throw line. The Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle 35-28. The Golden Eagles had 10 assists and 12 turnovers.
The game began with Charleston taking a 14-12 lead five minutes in. The Golden Eagles would stretch that lead to seven. NDC would get a 3-pointer from Sanders midway thru the opening half and be within one (22-21.) Once again Charleston would stretch the lead back out to seven and a mini run by the Falcons would get them within one (32-31) after a Vorhees layup at the 4:14 mark. After a Scarberry 3-pointer and two Sanders free throws the Falcons would take the lead 36-34. Charleston would score the next six points before Thurman would hit a jumper to make it a two point Charleston lead (40-38) at the half.
Charleston would stretch the lead to eight early in the second half. After a Rackley 3-pointer at the 9:26 mark it would be a 12 point (60-48) Golden Eagles lead. The Falcons would be down 11 at the 5:08 mark when they started on the come back trail. Sanders would hit a pair of free throws at the 2:41 mark to cut the lead to two (64-62.) After Charleston scored on a pair of Adam Tra'Ore free throws the Falcons got a Scarberry 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one with 1:26 to go. Devon Robinson would make a layup- but Scarberry would get fouled on a 3-point attempts and drain all three free throws to tie the game at 68. After a steal by Scarberry the Falcons called timeout with 29.1 to go and a chance to win it. Thurman had a jumper fall off the mark and we headed to overtime.
Parks would give NDC the lead to start the overtime. NDC would get another 3-pointer from Scarberry at the 2:05 mark and we were again tied at 74 with 2:05 to go. Sanders knotted the game again, this time at 76 after a pair of free throws at the 1:15 mark. The Golden Eagles got a big 3-pointer from Rackley to give them the lead.
Koenig talked about it:
" That was a missed assignment on defense. You can not give up a 3-pointer in that spot and we did."
NDC had a few shots to cut the lead but could not knock the shots down and Charleston closed it out at the free throw line.
Sanders talked about a tough loss afterwards:
" We didn't get to the loose balls in the first half and we allowed to many second chance points. We did better in the second half which caused us to cut the lead. We stuck together and fought- we just came up a little short."
Scarberry agreed with Sanders:
" I think if we just strung together a couple more stops on defense it would have led to some buckets on the offensive end. But the season is still early. Let's just take this experience, learn from it and go 1-0 tomorrow."
Thurman gave his thoughts:
" Second chance points killed us. If we were able to finish a couple more of those possessions, we are walking out of Charleston with a W. But I like how we didn't give up and fought back to force overtime on the road. It shows the toughness we have as a team, and this loss was a good learning experience for us."
Vorhees talked about rebounding and foul problems:
" Rebounding really hurt us tonight, as well as some foul trouble late in the game with me and Bruce (They both fouled out in the last three minutes of regulation.) We had opportunities to win a tough game on the road, we fought and forced overtime. We just gotta learn from this one."
Hodges agreed with Vorhees:
" Second chance points hurt us big time. We fought the whole game and after two important guys foul out it hurt us. But to see the team fight and send it to overtime I love it. This is a long season and we will see those guys again in Keller (Athletic Center.) Just wait on it!
NDC will be back in action tomorrow as they play an exhibition game at Cleveland State. Tip time is set for 1 PM at the Wolstein Center.
Other MEC Scores:
Virginia Wise 105 Glenville State 82
Shepherd 81 Wheeling Jesuit 74
Concord 80 Cal (Pa) 63
West Liberty @ Fairmont State (Sunday)
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 5-0 (7-1)
Fairmont State 5-0 (7-2)
Concord 4-1 (7-2)
NDC 4-2 (7-3)
Charleston 3-3 (7-3)
Shepherd 3-3 (6-3)
Virginia Wise 3-3 (5-5)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-3 (4-4)
Glenville State 2-4 (5-4)
Urbana 1-4 (2-6)
West Virginia State 1-4 (2-6)
Wheeling Jesuit 0-6 (0-9)
Comments