The Notre Dame College Falcons opened MEC play on Saturday and came away with a 91-71 win over the Wheeling University Cardinals at Murphy Gym. With the win NDC improves to 2-2 and 1-0 in the MEC. Wheeling falls to 1-3 and 0-1 in the MEC after the defeat.
The Falcons held Wheeling to 25 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 35.6 percent shooting from the field in this one.
"The guys came ready to play today, "Coach Mark Richmond mentioned. "Having 18 offensive rebounds was the number that really stood out. We really competed on the offensive glass. The second chance points were really important. We talk about rebounding a lot and we did a really good job today led by our guards rebounding and getting us some easy ones in transition."
Guard DeArius Barker agreed:
"We always preach defense, "Barker explained. "We get our offense off of our defense. When we lock in we are about as good as anyone at that end."
Guard Jaedon Willis gave his thoughts:
"We played well for about 35 minutes. We had about a five minute stretch that was not good and we need to clean that up, "Willis said, " We need to be the aggressor and protect our home court. Get the crowd into it and ride off that wave. The fans always give us that extra boost."
NDC was paced by Willis who had 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Barker added 18 off the bench as he went four of four from the 3-point line and Kalil Camara tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds.
NDC jumped out of the gates quickly in this one as they got a 3-pointer from Gbolahan Adio. After a Wheeling free throw NDC would go on a 14-2 run as they led 17-3 after a pair of Barker 3-pointers.
Barker gave the credit to Willis:
"Jaedon does such a good job of drawing the defense and he gets on me about catching and shooting. I told him I got him today."
NDC's double digit lead was trimmed to seven (25-18) after a John Korte layup for Wheeling with under eight minutes to go in the opening half. NDC would stretch the lead back out to 12 (34-22) after a pair of Willis free throws and another by Adio. NDC ended the half on a 17-4 burst that gave them a 20 point lead (46-26) heading into the locker room.
Willis had 14 and Barker tallied nine on three 3-pointer's to lead the way in the first 20 minutes. Camara added seven. As a team NDC shot 35.3 percent in the first half, 56.2 percent (9-16) from the 3-point lined 68.4 percent (13-19) from the free throw line.
Wheeling had a trio of players with six points in the first half. John Korte had six points and eight rebounds, Marcus Johnson also had six, as well as William Gabbert. WU shot 25 percent from the field, 13.3 percent (2-15) from the 3-point line, and 76.9 percent (10-13) from the free throw line in the opening stanza.
The second half saw NDC stretch the lead to 21 (53-32) after a Jamarr Talbert layup with 16:17 to go. After a Willis 3-pointer the lead was 23 (57-34.) Barker would hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game at the 9:44 mark and the lead was again 23 (67-44) with 9:46 on the clock. The Cardinals would get to within 11 (71-60) after a Brent Price 3-pointer at the 5:42 mark. Once again WU would get to within 11 (74-63) after a SJ Hutchinson 3-pointer but that is as close as the Cardinals would get as NDC would close out the 91-71 win.
Richmond talked about the guards rebounding:
"We can get out in transition when the guards rebound, You don't have to outlet it (throw the outlet pass.) They (Wheeling) took some long 3''s late and we did a good job of getting those long rebounds. I am really proud of our guys they have come a long way on the glass. This is who we have to be."
He continued about the defense:
"It was a balanced effort defensively. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys. It is a constant evolvement. We have to bring some guys along throughout the season who can help us down the road. Our strength is in numbers. We may not have the best five but we should be able to wear teams down. With a couple guys down today we got a lot of contributions from a lot of people."
Willis talked about getting the free throw line:
"Like I said we need to be the aggressor. Part of that is attacking the basket and getting easy points at the free throw line. "
Then Willis talked about Camara:
"Kalil is a rangy player who can play inside, outside."
NDC shot 37.9 percent from the field, 51.7 percent (15-29) from the 3-point line, and 74.3 percent (26-35) from the free throw line. They won the rebounding battle 48-38.
Richmond talked about that:
"To be +10 on the boards against that team is impressive. The second chance points were really important also." (NDC had 21 second chance points.)
The Falcons had 16 assists and 15 turnovers in the contest.
Wheeling was paced by Johnson with 16, Korte tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Hutchinson also had 14. They had 11 assists and 17 turnovers in the contest.
NDC will be back in action on Tuesday night when they travel to West Liberty to take on the Hilltoppers. Tip time at ASRC is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
West Virginia State 114 Glenville State 90
Frostburg State 60 West Virginia Wesleyan 59
Fairmont State 93 Davis & Elkins 81
Charleston 82 Concord 77
West Liberty 110 Alderson Broaddus 84
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 1-0 (3-0)
West Liberty 1-0 (4-0)
West Virginia State 1-0 (3-0)
Charleston 1-0 (2-2)
Frostburg State 1-0 (2-2)
NDC 1-0 (2-2)
Davis & Elkins 0-1 (3-1)
Concord 0-1 (2-2)
Glenville State 0-1 (1-2)
Wheeling 0-1 (1-3)
Alderson Broaddus 0-1 (1-3)
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-1 (0-4)
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