The Notre Dame College Falcons used clutch plays down the stretch to come away with a 75-69 win over Wheeling at Murphy Gym on Monday. With the win NDC improves to 1-3 on the season. Wheeling fell to 0-3 on the year with the loss.
The Falcons were led by four players in double figures. Jordan Burton led the way with 19 points. He came off the bench for the first time this season. Coach Mark Richmond explained the logic:
"I figured that Jordan would give us a scoring lift off the bench, and he certainly did. 19 points is solid, but the fact that he took good shots and did it on just 10 attempts (7-10) from the field was big,"Richmond explained. Tyland Crawford netted 16-Jordan Roland scored 15 points- had nine assists- and- grabbed seven rebounds. His coach talked about Roland tonight:
"Jordan Roland sniffed a triple-double. He was all over the place."
Roland talked about his mindset coming into the game:
" My main focus today was getting my teammates involved, and showing them that I trust them. My goal always is to do whatever it takes to win, Roland said.
John Godinez also scored in double figures with 10, including a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch.
The two teams would go back and forth early, the contest would be tied at 11 more than seven minutes in. Wheeling would use a 10-0 run to take a 25-15 lead after a Jordan Beale jumper at the 8:32 mark of the opening half. It would be a 30-19 Cardinals lead at the 6:39 mark. NDC would finish the first half by erasing that deficit. The game would be tied at 36 at the intermission.
NDC shot 44 percent from the field- 18 percent (2-11) from the 3-point line- and- 80 percent (4-5) from the free throw line in the opening stanza. Burton scored 11 in the opening half- while Crawford- and- Roland added six each.
Wheeling shot 50 percent from the field- and- 40 percent (4-10) from the 3-point line in the first 20 minutes. They shot at a 80 percent clip (8-10) at the free throw line. Reid led the Cardinals with 13 in the opening half.
The Falcons would take the leaad to start the second half. The lead was six (45-39) after a Crawford jumper. Burton knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 50-44 at the 11:58 mark. Then the Cardinals would counter with a 12-0 run. They led 56-50 at the 9:13 mark a mark after a Korte hoop. The Falcons got a 3-pointer from both Burton and Roland to tie the game. Then the Cardinals would go back on top. Burton made a basket to cut the lead to one (61-60) at the 4:35 mark. Jordan Reid split a pair of free throws, and a Roland jumper knotted the game at 62 with 3:14 on the clock. Jones gave the Falcons the lead for good at the 2:27 mark, as he made a layup and was fouled. He could not convert the free throw. NDC got a stop at the other end, and Godinez knocked down a 3-pointer off the Roland dish. Haines hit a jumper, but then Crawford would hit the jumper, and add a pair of free throws. NDC would go on to the 75-69 win.
NDC shot 45 percent as a team in the contest. They shot 32 percent (7-22) from the 3-point line- and- 77 percent (10-13) from the free throw line. The Falcons had 14 assists- and- 12 turnovers as a team.
Crawford talked about his mindset line down the stretch:
" I pride myself on being a good free throw shooter. So when i'm at the line I just relax and try and knock the shot down. Down the stretch I just wanted to make winning plays for my team, Crawford stated.
Wheeling was led by 26 points from Reid. Haines had 14 of his own, and Korte had 10.
The Cardinals shot 43 percent as a team- 29 percent (5-17) from the 3-point line- and- 69 percent (18-26) at the free throw line.
NDC won the rebounding battle 44-27.
Richmond talked about the defensive effort, and rebounding being the difference:
"We had 14 offensive rebounds, and they had just three. As I have been saying we can be a dominant rebounding team.There are some good rebounding teams in our league, but that should be a strength for us. Obviously tonight it was huge. That was the difference in the game. I wish we would convert better on those misses (10 second chance points.) Sometimes it's as simple as making smarter decisions and kicking it back out. We got some big minutes from Isaiah Sanders in his first real action of the season. Mike (Sampson) and Colby (Dillenbeck) were big on the glass as well. We didn't have a game against a non conference opponent, or have a preseason, so a lot of these guys are learning on the fly in this shortened 16 game conference only season. Our guys know if they play hard they are going to play."
Burton talked about the team building off this one:
" It was a great team win. We gotta keep moving forward with this momentum, Burton said."
The Falcons will be back in action when they host Fairmont State on Wednesday night. Tip time is slated for 7:30 PM. You can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com and on the MECTV portal
MEC North Standings:
West Liberty 4-0
Fairmont State 3-1
Frostburg State 1-2
Alderson Broaddus 1-3
NDC 1-3
Wheeling 0-3
MEC South Standings:
Glenville State 4-0
West Virginia State 3-1
Concord 2-2
Davis & Elkins 2-2
Charleston 2-2
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-4
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