As has been the case many times in the 2021-22 season the Notre Dame College Falcons found themselves in a close game on the road. NDC would come up short 71-70 as they fell to 3-5 on the road this season. With the loss NDC fell to 10-8 and 8-5 in the MEC. The Alderson Broaddus Battlers improved to 8-7 and 5-6 in the MEC with the win.
NDC Head Coach Mark Richmond had this to say after the loss:
" We played really hard today at AB, "Richmond mentioned. "We never really got into a rhythm offensively."
Jaedon Willis knocked down a 3-pointer to open the scoring for NDC. It was 9-5 Battlers before the Falcons got a jumper by Willis and a Tyland Crawford layup that knotted the game at nine. The game would be tied twice and feature eight lead changes in the opening 20 minutes. A Willis 3-pointer put NDC back up 12-11 as the lead changed hands on a pair more occasions. After a Zach Simpkins 3-pointer the Battlers led 18-14 with 10:31 in the half. Daylin Lee hit a NDC 3-pointer to trim the lead to one before two more ABU baskets stretched the lead back to five. A 3-pointer cut it to two but the Battlers would stretch the lead back to six. Down 30-24 the Falcons would get a four point run by Obinna Ugwuakazi and a Jamaar Talbert 3-pointer to give them the lead back, after a Knott basket put AB back on top NDC would close the half on a 5-0 run on a Crawford layup, Willis split a pair of free throws, and a Sam Jackson tip in made it 36-32 at halftime.
Willis led NDC with 11 points in the opening half, while Crawford had nine. Mike Sampson led NDC on the glass with eight boards as they had a 15-11 edge including 6-0 on the offensive glass.
NDC shot 47 percent from the field in the first half, 39 percent (5-13) from the 3-point line, and shot 75 percent (3-4) from the free throw line.
The Battlers had three players score eight points in the first half. Simpkins, Lance, and Collins all tallied eight. ABU shot 56 percent from the field, 22 percent (2-9) from the 3-point line, and did not attempt a free throw in the opening stanza.
A Sam Jackson layup stretched the Falcons lead to six but the next four points went to ABU. Willis hit a 3-pointer but the Battlers would score the next seven points to go back on top 43-41. Crawford tied the game but Vincent Smalls put the Battlers right back on top. After a Lee 3-pointer NDC had a 46-45 advantage with 14:33 to go. After a 3-pointer by the Battlers Sampson had an old fashioned three-point play that cut the lead back to one (48-47.) A layup by Smalls would cap a 7-0 run as AB lead by eight (55-47) with 11:05 to go. NDC got a Willis jumper, a Talbert 3-pointer and a Crawford basket to cut the lead to 55-54 with 9:03 on the clock. AB would score the next five points before a Crawford three-point play sliced the lead to three (60-57.) After a Simpkins 3-pointer with 2:39 to go the Battlers led by seven (66-59.) Jackson had a three-point play but AB would counter with a 3-ball by Coryon Rice with 2:10 to go. Back to back layups by Sampson cut it to a three point game (69-66) with 1:13 to go. A Willis 3-pointer with 26 seconds to go did not fall and then the Battlers split hit a pair of free throws by Barnes to go up five with 19 seconds to go. Crawford split a pair at the line to make it 71-67 and a missed front end by the Battlers gave NDC the ball back. Willis was fouled on a 3-point attempt with .4 seconds to go. He made the first two and looked to intentionally miss the third but his high arcing free throw nearly hit the ceiling and after AB inbound the ball the game ended with a 71-70 Battlers win. NDC shot 41 percent from the field in the contest, 32 percent (8-25) from the 3-point line, and 67 percent (10-15) from the free throw line. NDC won the rebounding battle 35-29. They had 13 assists and 14 turnovers in the game. Willis led the team in assists with five and Sampson had 12 rebounds.
AB was paced by Simpkins with 17, they also got 16 from Knott, and 11 from Smalls. As a team they shot 51 percent from the field, 35 percent (8-23) from the 3-point line, and 56 percent (5-9) from the free throw line. They had 14 assists and 12 turnovers in the contest.
Richmond gave his thoughts:
"14 turnovers on the road is too many. We have to develop a toughness on the road to go take these games. Teams aren't going to give them to us so we have to be able to do difficult things at key times."
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Athens, West Va. to take on Concord. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
Fairmont State 97 Frostburg State 89
West Virginia State 86 Charleston 75
Concord 86 Glenville State 82
Davis & Elkins 80 West Virginia Wesleyan 69
West Liberty 109 Wheeling 85
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 10-2 (15-2)
West Liberty 10-2 (16-2)
Charleston 8-2 (12-3)
West Virginia State 8-3 (13-5)
NDC 7-5 (10-8)
Alderson Broaddus 5-6 (8-7)
Concord 5-7 (7-10)
Davis & Elkins 4-7 (6-10)
Frostburg State 4-8 (6-12)
Wheeling 4-8 (5-13)
Glenville State 3-8 (6-9)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-11 (2-16)
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