The Notre Dame College Falcons gave a solid effort but ultimately fell short 103-93 to #10 West Liberty at Murphy Gym on Sunday. With the victory the Hilltoppers improved to 6-1 and 4-0 in the MEC. After the defeat the Falcons fell to 6-2 and 3-1 in the MEC.
NDC Coach Tim Koenig talked about the game afterwards:
" They made plays and we did not at money time. We saw a lot of good things today but we had some lapses for about five or six minutes that led to some runs by them. It is a 40 minute game and we just were not good enough today. For 34-35 minutes we were really good but that is not good enough to beat a team the caliber of West Liberty. They were the #1 team in the country in the pre season and are ranked #10 now for a reason."
The Hilltoppers were led by 29 points from Dalton Bolon. He knocked down six 3-pointer's in the contest- Will Yoakum added 26- and- Marlon Moore Jr. had 11. West Liberty shot 56 percent from the field in the game- 41 percent (12-29) from the 3-point line- and- shot at a 68 percent clip (17-25) from the free throw line. They had 18 assists and 11 turnovers as a team.
NDC was led by the trio of Larenz Thurman- Will Vorhees- and- Halil Parks who combined for 75 of the Falcons 93 points. Thurman led the way with 28 points- Vorhees netted 26 points- grabbed eight rebounds- and- dished out six assists. While Parks added 21 points. Angelo Cugini led the Falcons with 13 rebounds. The Falcons shot 48 percent as a team- 33 percent (7-21) from the 3-point line- and- 83 percent (30-36) at the free throw line. The Falcons won the rebounding battle 37-29. They had nine assists and 17 turnovers as a team.
The Falcons led 13-10 in the early going, but the Hilltoppers would go on a 12-0 run to lead 22-13. After the Falcons came back to tie the game at 42- the Hilltoppers would take a four point lead( 49-45 )at the half.
Koenig talked about the Falcons execution and how he thought they handled the West Liberty press:
During those runs it came down to three things:
" We did not take care of the ball where we did not execute and get to our spots. We had poor shot selection- and- we did not rebound or get to the loose balls. It was as simple as those three things."
" As for the press execution. For the majority of the time it was good. It was good for 33,34, maybe 35 minutes. But it is a 40 minute game, we had some bad stretches for five or six minutes that cost us. West Liberty makes you pay for your mistakes."
The second half got off to a rough start for the Falcons and they would fall behind by 19 early on in the half. This Falcons team had no quit in it though as they battled back and got it to as close as six (89-83) with under three minutes to go. That is as close as the Falcons would get as they would hand NDC there first conference loss of the season.
Koenig talked about the teams improvement since the beginning of the season:
" We have showed improvement for sure. We are definitely a better defensive team than we were in the beginning of the year. I really like this group of guys and think our best basketball is is front of us. We do have room for growth but I like the direction this team is headed."
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they host West Virginia State. Tip time is at 7:30 PM from Murphy Gym.
Other MEC Scores:
Glenville State 106 Shepherd 101
Concord 98 West Virginia State 91
Charleston 81 Virginia Wise 73
Urbana 77 Wheeling Jesuit 73
Fairmont State 65 West Virginia Wesleyan 52
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 4-0 (6-1)
Fairmont State 4-0 (6-2)
NDC 3-1 (6-2)
Concord 3-1 (5-2)
Glenville State -2-2 (5-2)
Shepherd 2-2 (5-2)
Virginia Wise 2-2 (4-4)
Charleston 1-3 (5-3)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-3 (3-4)
Urbana 1-3 (2-5)
West Virginia State 1-3 (2-5)
Wheeling Jesuit 0-4 (0-7)
Yorumlar