It was Senior day at Notre Dame College on Saturday. Tyland Crawford was the lone senior for the Falcons and NDC head coach Mark Richmond talked about Crawford a little bit:
"We are very proud of Tyland, he is going to sit down and make an educated decision on his future, "Richmond said. "He has played his butt off for us for the last two years. He has been a lot of fun to coach and I really like his business like approach. I wish we had 15 more guys like him, he is a good student and will be successful in whatever he does in life."
The Falcons shot 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line in the opening half but could not find the basket in the 79-65 loss. The Battlers outscored NDC in the second half 49-26. With the loss NDC falls to 15-13 and 12-10 in the MEC. Alderson Broaddus improves to 12-15 and 9-13 in the MEC after the road win.
Richmond talked about the tale of two halves:
"It was like two different teams out there. I thought we played well and competed in the first half. In the second half we were not nearly good enough at both ends. We let our offense affect our defense. It was a disappointing finish for sure."
NDC jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led 9-4 after a Jaedon Willis 3-pointer at the 18:01 mark it was 9-4 in favor of NDC. The Battlers would go on a 7-0 run to take the 11-9 lead before Willis jumper knotted things at 11. A Sam Jackson layup knotted the game at 13 with 15 minutes to go in the opening stanza. After Vincent Smalls put AB on top NDC got a 3-pointer from Daylin Lee, a triple from Willis and a jumper by Lee to go up 21-15 with 12:27 in the half. Coryon Rice hit a Battlers jumper and Willis picked up his second foul at the 12:15 mark of the half as Rice converted the free throw. DeAirius Barker and Mike Sampson hit back to back 3-pointer's as NDC led 27-18. The next five points would go the Battlers way before a Sampson layup. Crawford put NDC up eight with a hoop of his own. NDC would have their largest lead of the game at 10 (39-29) after a Crawford jumper with 26 seconds in the half. Rice split a pair of free throws and it was 39-30 NDC at the half.
In the opening half Willis and Crawford led NDC with 10 while Sampson tallied seven. NDC shot 50 percent from the field and 50 percent (5-10) from the 3-point line, as well as four of four from the free throw line in the opening stanza. They led the rebounding battle 17-16 at the break.
AB was led in the first half by John Grayson with eight while Rice and KJ Walker each had seven. The Battlers shot 42 percent from the field in the opening half, 18 percent (2-11) from the 3-point line and 2-3 at the free throw line.
The Battlers came out in the second half and scored the first seven points as they pulled within two (39-37) after a Grayson layup with 17:22 to go. NDC got a dunk from Mike Sampson to stretch the lead back to four (41-37.) John Godinez hit a jumper and the NDC lead was six. The next four points went to the Battlers and NDC got a Sam Jackson jumper to make it 45-41 with 15:22 remaining. Walker hit a 3-ball but Lee answered for the Falcons.The Battlers would knot the game at 48 as Collins hit a jumper to tie it. Willis put NDC on top briefly but a 3-pointer by Walker and a Collins hoop made it 53-50 AB. Obinna Ugwuakazi split a pair of free throws to trim the lead to two (53-51.) The Battlers would then take control as they would go on a 7-0 run capped by a layup by Vincent Smalls to make it 60-51 with 5:19 to go. The lead would grow to double digits and the Battlers would complete the season sweep of the Falcons as they cruised the rest of the way to the 79-65 win.
NDC was led by Willis who scored 19, Crawford added 13, and Lee tallied 10. Mike Sampson added nine points and nine rebounds. The Falcons shot 39 percent from the field, going just 9-31 (29 percent) in the second half. They shot 38 percent (8-21) from the 3-point line including 3-11 from the 3-point line in the second stanza. NDC shot 82 percent (9-11) from the free throw line in the game.The Falcons had 11 assists and nine turnovers on the night.
AB was paced by Cleveland Heights native KJ Walker who had 24 points on 10-15 shooting, Grayson added 15, Jalen Knott added 12, Jalen Collins scored 12 to go with 13 rebounds, and Rice added 10. The Battlers shot 52 percent from the field (63 percent second half,) they shot 35 percent (7-20) from the 3-point line, and 46 percent (6-13) from the free throw line. AB won the rebounding battle 40-32. They had 20 assists and 10 turnovers in the game.
Richmond gave his final thoughts:
" Obviously very disappointing end to the regular season but we will have to regroup and be ready to go on Friday."
NDC will be the fifth seed in the Mountain East Conference Tournament and face Fourth Seeded Fairmont State on Friday at 8:30 PM at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Va.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
West Liberty 109 Wheeling 94
Concord 90 Glenville State 80
Davis & Elkins 82 West Virginia Wesleyan 69
Frostburg State 80 Fairmont State 75
West Virginia State 81 Charleston 73
Final MEC Standings:
West Liberty 20-2 (26-2)
West Virginia State 18-4 (23-6)
Charleston 17-5 (22-6)
Fairmont State 16-6 (21-6)
NDC 12-10 (15-13)
Concord 11-11 (14-14)
Glenville State 9-13 (12-15)
Wheeling 8-14 (9-19)
Davis & Elkins 6-16 (8-20)
Frostburg State 6-16 (8-20)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-21 (2-26)
MEC Tournament Games Wednesday:
MEC Tournament Games Thursday:
Atlantic Region Rankings:
West Liberty
Indiana (PA)
Fairmont State
Cal (PA)
MercyHurst
Pitt-Johnstown
Millersville
West Virginia State
Virginia Union
Charleston
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