The Notre Dame College Falcons and West Virginia Wesleyan College Bobcats did battle inside of Murphy Gym on Saturday. NDC held the Bobcats to 18 points in the opening half and 47 in the contest as they cruised to a 91-47 win that kept them perfect at home on the season.
"Defense particularly in the first half kind of set the tone, "NDC Head Coach Mark Richmond mentioned. " To hold those guys to 18 points in a half was really good. Daylin Lee stepped up drawing three charges early in this one. Our guys were ready to go from the tip. Some guys did some good things defensively. I was excited that our guys are maturing and growing and we were able to get some other guys in there to play some major minutes."
"We have just been coming together as a team overall, "Gbolahan Adio explained. "Offensively we have been able to play off of each other and lately I've been getting more comfortable on the court on offense. Defensively we've been trusting each other more while still being aggressive so it's coming along. Today we were able to set the tone to start the game and we never looked back."
NDC (5-4 4-2 MEC) jumped out to a 9-0 lead as Jaedon Willis scored seven of those nine points. "I wanted to come out and be aggressive early but take efficient shots, "Willis stated, "I never like to have two bad shooting nights back to back so it was important to get easy looks and find a rhythm early. I hadn't been feeling well the past couple days but that wasn't going to stop me from going out there and playing well today."
The next five points would go to WVWC (1-8 1-5 MEC) before a DeAirius Barker triple. Willis then hit a jumper and a 3-pointer to make it 17-5 NDC at the 10:51 mark of the half. The lead was seven (21-14) when the Falcons would go on a 15-0 run. Kaleb Torrence hit a 3-pointer, Jamarr Talbert knocked down a triple, and Talbert hit another 3-ball before Andre Harris stole the ball and got a transition dunk. Willis and Harris each made layups and the lead was 22 at the three minute mark of the opening stanza. The Falcons would take a 42-18 lead into the locker room.
Richmond gave this thought about the first half:
"We probably shot to many 3-pointer's in the half but we made some of them so you have to kind of live with that against the zone."
NDC was led by Willis with 17 points in the opening 20 minutes, while the trio of Barker, Harris, and Talbert each tallied six. As a team NDC shot 45.7 percent from the field, 37.1 percent (8-21) from the 3-point line, and 40 percent (2-5) at the free throw line. NDC was +3 (23-20) on the glass in the opening stanza.
WVWC was led by Darius Green with seven and Anthony Craven had four in the opening stanza. They shot 27.6 percent in the first half, 2-12 from the 3-point line and 0-2 at the free throw line.
The second half was all NDC. They would score the first six points of the stanza and led by as many as 46 points (78-32) after a pair of Barker free throws. NDC would cruise to victory from there.
Willis paced the Falcons with 19 points in 22 minutes and talked about the win afterwords:
"Very happy with the win today, we did what we had to do." Adio added 13 points, seven rebounds along with a pair of assists and a pair of steals. Harris had 11 and Barker also tallied in double figures with 10 on the day. NDC shot 50 percent for the day, 31.3 percent (10-32) from the 3-point line, and 71.4 percent (15-21) at the free throw line. They won the rebounding battle 47-38. The Falcons had 17 assists and 12 turnovers in the contest.
Richmond had these thoughts:
"We moved the ball pretty well. 17 assists on 33 made baskets is not bad for a half. We need to continue to make the extra pass. They tried a few different types of zones against us. We had to move them. We got some great looks and moved the ball pretty well especially in the second half. We got some in transition as well. It was a balanced effort from everyone. We need everybody to be their best. We don't need guys to do anything they are not good at or are not capable of. Some guys are good at certain things. We need guys to excel at their strengths and need to be the best they can be."
Wesleyan was led by 14 points from Green while they also got 12 from Craven. As a team they shot 32.4 percent from the floor, 11.1 percent (2-18) from the 3-point line, and 20 percent (1-5) at the free throw line. They had eight assists and 17 turnovers on the day.
NDC will take a week off for Finals before they take on D'Youville College (Buffalo) at 4 PM on 12/19.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
Charleston 72 Wheeling 70
Glenville State 88 Fairmont State 83
Concord 93 Frostburg State 82
West Liberty 91 West Virginia State 89
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 6-0 (9-0)
West Virginia State 5-1 (8-1)
Concord 4-2 (7-3)
NDC 4-2 (5-4)
Charleston 4-2 (5-5)
Davis & Elkins 3-3 (7-3)
Fairmont State 3-3 (5-3)
Glenville State 3-3 (6-4)
Alderson Broaddus 2-4 (2-7)
Frostburg State 1-5 (3-7)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-5 (1-8)
Wheeling 0-6 (1-8)
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