The Notre Dame College Falcons held the Glenville State University Pioneers six points under there season average and held one of the top 10 scorers in the Mountain East Conference in Jordan "Turbo' Smith to 2-19 shooting from the floor as he scored just six points after getting 32 in an overtime win for the Pioneers in South Euclid back in December. The Falcons defense was the story as they held GSU to 35.5 percent shooting and 17.2 percent (5-29) from the 3-point line in a 88-77 road win at the Waco Center. The Falcons improve to 7-5 in true road games this season. The most road wins under head coach Mark Richmond and the most road wins since they had eight in the 2018-19 season.
"I'm proud of everyone because we battled on the boards and played great defense for the entire game. I feel like those two things got us the dub," NDC senior Trent Williams explained.
With the win NDC improves to 11-10 on the year and 6-9 in the MEC. The Pioneers fall to 11-11 and 6-8 in MEC play with the loss.
Andre Harris scored the first bucker of the game for the Falcons. It was quickly answered by a Domiq Penn layup. NDC then went on a 13-0 run capped by a layup by freshman Aidan Filippini to take a 15-2 lead with 13:36 until halftime. A quick 6-0 run by GSU cut the lead to single digits. After a layup by redshirt junior RJ Ogom NDC led 21-10 halfway through the opening half. The next four points went to GSU but Ogom would hit back to back triples and a jumper by redshirt sophomore Devin Haid made it a 29-14 NDC lead. The lead grew to 18 (33-15) on a Haid 3-pointer at the 5:57 mark of the first half. After Harris made a layup with 2:14 in the opening stanza the Falcons had the lead back to 18 (45-27.) The Pioneers would close the half on a 10-0 run to trim the NDC lead to eight (45-37) at halftime.
NDC was led by Ogom and Haid who had 12 points each in the first half while Harris had seven. NDC shot 51.5 percent in the opening stanza, 5-7 (71.4 percent) from the free throw line and led the rebounding battle 23-19 in the half. They had seven assists and eight turnovers as a team in the first 20 minutes.
GSU was paced by Devin Collins with eight while the trio of Prince Mosengo, James Franklin, and Trevor Chandler added seven each in the first half. They shot 36.6 percent from the field and 17.6 percent (3-16) from the 3-point line as well as 66.7 percent (4-6) from the free throw line in the first half. The Pioneers had 10 assists and three turnovers in the half.
The Pioneers would battle all the way back with a 19-0 run going back to the first half to take a 46-45 lead as Penn hit a 3-pointer with 16:36 to go. Jones hit a pair of free throws and Adio knocked down a trey to put the Falcons back up four (50-46.) The NDC lead was one (53-52) when Williams knocked down a 3-ball to put the Falcons back up four. After Dishon Daniels cut the lead in half Haid hit another 3-pointer to make it 59-54 NDC at the 13:05 mark. Less than a minute later Chandler converted an old fashioned three-point play but Haid knocked down another triple. After Smith made a basket to trim the NDC lead to two Jones made a pair of free throws and junior Jamarr Talbert knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a 67-60 Falcons lead with 10:33 to go. GSU would again pull within two (67-65) before Adio and Franklin traded baskets. A steal and hoop by Adio would make it a 71-67 NDC lead with 8:19 to go. After Smith split a pair of free throws NDC went on a 9-0 run as Harris made a dunk and a two hand jam by Ogom made it a 12 point (80-68) NDC lead at the 4:02 mark. The Falcons lead was cut to eight (83-75) on a Remy Lemovou dunk with 1:38 to go. NDC would close this one out at the free throw line to gain the split with the Pioneers with each team winning on the other's home floor. The loss for the Pioneers was just the second time they have fallen at the Waco Center this season.
NDC had five players score in double figures led by Haid with 21, Adio and Harris each netted 15, Ogom had 14, and Jones was perfect from the floor and free throw line to tally 10. NDC shot 48.4 percent from the field, 40.7 percent (11-27) from the 3-point line, and 63 percent (17-27) from the free throw line in the win. The Falcons won the rebounding battle 48-43. They had 13 assists and 17 turnovers in the contest.
GSU was led by Collins and Chandler who had 15 each. Penn added 11 while a trio of players tallied eight. As a team the Pioneers shot 35.5 percent from the floor, 17.2 percent (5-29) from the 3-point line, and 58.1 percent (18-31) from the free throw line. They had 18 assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
"We played great on defense today," Ogom mentioned. " We had a few things we were trying to key in on and we executed it really well. Devin (Haid) is a professional scorer, we count on him to do that. I try and help offensively as much as I can by being aggressive. We started to let the lead slip away a little bit but we all came together, locked in, and made sure we came out with the victory."
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they host Charleston. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
Wheeling 85 Davis & Elkins 82
Concord 100 Salem 92
West Liberty 101 West Virginia Wesleyan 66
Charleston 95 Frostburg State 64
Fairmont State 82 West Virginia State 80
MEC Standings:
Charleston 13-2 (18-3)
West Liberty 11-3 (17-5)
West Virginia State 11-4 (15-6)
Concord 10-4 (16-4)
Fairmont State 9-6 (16-6)
Davis & Elkins 7-7 (12-10)
Glenville State 6-8 (11-11)
NDC 6-9 (11-10)
Wheeling 4-11 (7-14)
Frostburg State 2-13 (2-20)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-13 (2-20)
Comments