The Notre Dame College Falcons and Concord Mountain Lions will meet for the second time Wednesday inside of Murphy Gym. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM. The Falcons come into the game with a record of 6-12 and 4-8 in the MEC. Concord is 5-12 and 3-9 in the MEC.
Coach Mark Richmond talked about the first meeting:
"It did not go our way first time around. It was a good game at their place and I expect the same tomorrow."Richmond mentioned.
Drew Scarberry agreed:
" We have some good momentum going into this game. We believe that we should have won the game at their place. We are a different team now. We need to come out play our game and out grit them for 40 minutes." Scarberry said.
Richmond talked about the importance of being at home this time around:
" Home court is as important in basketball as it is in any sport. It is hard to win on the road at basketball at any level. It is good timing with this meeting as the students are back. We have a good home court advantage with our students and the band. The way we have been playing of late you see more people coming back and we love to see that. "
In that first meeting back on 12/7 the Mountain Lions were a 79-76 winner. Bruce Hodges talked about what has to happen for that result to change:
"It is a very winnable game. We have to continue to share the ball and play together as a team."Hodges explained.
NDC was a 78-63 winner over Urbana on Saturday. The win gave the Falcons the team's first two game winning streak of the season. DeAnthony Owens paced NDC with 20 points- Levi Frankland scored 14- Scarberry notched 13- and- Hodges contributed 12. NDC shot 53 percent as a team- 33 percent (7-21) from the 3-point line- and- 75 percent (15-20) from the free throw line. The Falcons had 17 assists- and- 11 turnovers in this one.
Richmond spoke about the goal in this one as well and some things that can carry over from the last couple games:
" We took care of business in the first two and are looking to do the same tomorrow. We have played well offensively the last couple weeks and are starting to get a good rotation going. We have been switching up our defenses well. We played some zone in the first half against Urbana- but played man in the second half."
NDC comes into the contest in the middle of the pack both on offense and defense. They average 78.6 points per game on offense which is sixth in the MEC. On the other hand defensively after a pair of stellar outings last week the Falcons improved to fifth in the MEC giving up 80.3 points per game. NDC continues to be solid on the boards as well where they have a slight 35.8-35.1 advantage.
When asked if he anticipated playing more zone against a team like Concord this was Richmond's response:
" We will play it by ear and see how it goes. We have been changing our defenses a lot this season and most likely it will be more of the same. As for the offensive side we will get some good shots and hopefully we will knock them down."
Levi Frankland is pouring in 17.5 points per game to lead the Falcons. The redshirt sophomore is shooting 54 percent from the field which is good for seventh in the MEC. His 2.4 made 3-pointer's per game are good for sixth in the conference. Frankland also leads the MEC and is top 25 in the country in minutes played at more than 36 per night. Owens is second on the team in scoring at 15.7 points per contest and is leading the team in both rebounds (6.8 per contest-) and- blocked shots (nine on the year.) He is shooting 47 percent from the field- and- 40 percent from the 3-point line for the season. Scarberry continues to put up solid numbers contributing 14.9 points per contest. He is also grabbing 5.7 rebounds per night- and- is fifth in the MEC shooting at a 34 percent clip from the 3-point line. His 2.5 made three's per game is fourth in the conference. Jordan Burton has stepped in for the injured Larenz Thurman and now averages 10.1 points per night- and- is leading the team- and- 10th in the conference dishing out 3.2 assists per night. Frankland scored 20- while Hodges- and- Scarberry each had 11 in the first meeting with the Mountain Lions.
Richmond talked about the importance of the continued improvement of the bench to give particularly Scarberry and Frankland a breather:
" The bench has been playing well of late. A guy like Dan (Lott) has been really good of late- Ryan (Cartaino) continues to improve. It is very important for a team like us who has a short bench. As I said earlier we have developed a nice rotation these last couple of weeks so as long as guys stay healthy and are not in foul trouble that should continue. The other part of that is you have to be in the game to make an impact."
The Mountain Lions have lost two straight and eight of the past nine. The last time out was a 89-74 loss to Glenville State over the weekend. Malik Johnson scored 15- Kelly Martin Jr. added 12- while Ethan Heller- and- Liam Evans contributed 11 points each. They shot 44 percent from the field- and- 32 percent from the 3-point line- to go along with 89 percent from the free throw line.
Johnson is leading the season box score at 14.5 points per game- Trey Brisco is scoring 12.8 per night- and- is tied for the team lead in assists at 2.8 per contest. Heller is scoring 12.0 points per game- and- is also dishing out 2.8 assists per night. Martin is averaging 10.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Simun Kovac has been a monster on the glass for Concord grabbing 9.2 rebounds to go with his 10 points per game. As a team the Mountain Lions score 76.5 points per game- while they allow 81.6 points per contest. They have been out rebounded by 1.7 boards per contest on the season (34.8-36.5.) In the first meeting between these two teams Heller led the Mountain Lions with 20 points- Brisco had 17- Martin netted 15- and- Evans contributed 12.
Other MEC Games Wednesday:
West Virginia Wesleyan @ Wheeling
Davis & Elkins @ West Liberty
Glenville State @ Urbana
West Virginia State @ Fairmont State
Charleston @ Frostburg State
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 10-2 (15-3)
Charleston 9-3 (15-3)
Fairmont State 8-4 (13-4)
West Virginia State 8-4 (13-4)
Glenville State 8-4 (11-7)
Wheeling 6-6 (9-7)
West Virginia Wesleyan 5-7 (6-12)
Frostburg State 4-8 (7-11)
NDC 4-8 (6-12)
Davis & Elkins 4-8 (6-12)
Concord 3-9 (5-12)
Urbana 3-9 (4-14)
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