The Notre Dame College Falcons held a 27 point lead with 10:20 in the opening half- but could not hang on- and- ultimately fell 108-106 to West Virginia State at the Walker Convocation Center Wednesday night. With the loss the Falcons fall to 13-6 and 9-4 in the MEC. The Yellow Jackets improve to 10-9 and 7-6 in the MEC with the victory.
Will Vorhees paced the Falcons with 32 points and 11 rebounds- and- five assists. Larenz Thurman added 26- while- Halil Parks netted 19- and- Drew Scarberry tallied 13. The Falcons shot 59 percent from the field- 41 percent (11-27) from the 3-point line- and- 90 percent (27-30) from the free throw line. Each team had 30 rebounds in the contest. The Falcons had 21 assists and 15 turnovers as a team.
West Virginia State was paced by Pat Johnson-Agwu with 41 points- Jeremiah Moore added 20 to go along with eight rebounds- Garret McCarty added 13- and- Isaiah Noel had 10. WVSU shot 58 percent from the field- 48 percent (12-25) from the 3-point line- and- 65 percent (20-31) at the free throw line. They had 20 assists and 10 turnovers as a team.
NDC came out red hot to start the contest. Will Vorhees scored six straight points and Drew Scarberry knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Falcons up 9-1 in the early going. NDC would stretch that lead to 18 (22-4) at the first media timeout of the contest. The Falcons would lead by 27 (41-14) after three Thurman free throws at the 10:20 mark of the opening half. Scarberry would hit another 3-pointer and the lead would still be 25 (55-30) with five minutes to go in the first stanza. The Yellow Jackets would then go on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 15 (55-40) after a Johnson-Agwu jumper. The Falcons would take a 16 point lead (58-42) into the halftime break.
Vorhees would lead NDC with 18 points and seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes- while Thurman added 15. NDC shot 57 percent as a team- 44 percent (8-18) from the 3-point line- and- 91 percent (10-11) from the free throw line. The Falcons had 12 assists and seven turnovers in the half.
WVSU was led by Johnson-Agwu with 16- and- Moore with seven in the first half. They shot 52 percent as a team- 27 percent (3-11) from the 3-point line- and- 54 percent (7-13) from the free throw line. The Yellow Jackets had eight assists and nine turnovers in the first stanza.
NDC would get a 6-0 run by Vorhees early in the second half and looked to be in command up 75-58 with 15:38 to go. WVSU would score the next seven points before Scarberry hit his third 3-ball of the contest. The lead would remain in double digits until Noel cut it to seven (83-76) with 12:34 to go.
A dunk by Moore would cut the lead to four (85-81) at the 11 minute mark. Johnson-Agwu would split a pair of free throws before the Yellow Jackets would knot the game at 92 with 5:37 to go after a McCarty 3-pointer. NDC would stay on top by five (101-96) after a Vorhees layup at the 3:07 mark. Johnson-Agwu would split a pair of free throws and then get a tip in three-point play to make it 101-100 with 2:13 to go. Vorhees missed a 3-pointer at the end and Johnson-Agwu scored and gave the Yellow Jackets the lead back at the1:38 mark. The free throw would be missed but the Falcons would have to finish the contest without Vorhees. After a NDC turnover McCarty hit a 3-pointer to make it a four point game. Thurman converted a three-point play for NDC to cut it to one (105-104) with 28 seconds to go. Johnson-Agwu would get a dunk at the other end but NDC would have a chance to tie it with six seconds to go as they would go to the free throw line. After making the first two- the third one did not fall. Johnson-Agwu once again spilt a pair of free throws. The Falcons had one last gasp with three seconds to go but a 3-point attempt would not fall.
NDC will be back in action Saturday when they host Charleston. Tip time at Murphy Gym is set for 4 PM. You can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com
Other MEC Scores Wednesday:
Fairmont State 88 Wheeling Jesuit 64
Concord 93 Glenville State 90
Virginia Wise 85 West Virginia Wesleyan 79
West Liberty 84 Shepherd 76
Charleston 87 Urbana 58
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 12-1 (16-2)
Fairmont State 12-1 (15-4)
Concord 9-4 (14-5)
NDC 9-4 (13-6)
Charleston 8-5 (13-6)
West Virginia State 7-6 (10-9)
Shepherd 6-7 (10-9)
West Virginia Wesleyan 5-8 (8-11)
Virginia Wise 4-9 (6-12)
Urbana 3-10 (5-12)
Glenville State 2-11 (7-12)
Wheeling Jesuit 1-12 (2-17)
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