In a game that featured 10 ties and 16 lead changes the Notre Dame College Falcons came away with a 97-86 win over the University of Virginia's College at Wise at the Prior Center. With the victory the Falcons improved to 4-1 and 2-0 in the MEC. While the Cavaliers dropped to 3-2 and 1-1 in the MEC in the defeat.
NDC was paced by Will Vorhees who scored a game high 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds before fouling out with two minutes to go. Larenz Thurman scored 27 points, including 14 in the games final five minutes.Thurman added a team leading eight assists. Halil Parks netted 15- and- Drew Scarberry knocked down four 3-pointers en route to 13-and- Isaiah Sanders added 10 in the victory.
The Falcons shot 50 percent from the floor- and- 38 percent (11-29) from the 3-point line in the game. They had 17 assists and 13 turnovers in the contest.
Coach Tim Koenig spoke about the victory:
" We got contributions from everybody today. Scarberry shot it well- Will was really good- and- we won the game without Will down the stretch. That was a great team win."
Redshirt Jack Kelsheimer agreed:
" The bench was really good tonight. Dan (Athcheson) and I made that a point tonight, as it was not that good at Concord. Any time you can get two wins in the conference on the road is huge. Great teams win games going away down the stretch and we did that tonight," Kelsheimer said.
The Cavaliers (3-2 1-1 MEC) were led by Cameron Whiteside with 19 points. He was one of three players in double figures. Briggs Parris added 16- and- Michal Seals had 15 in the loss for UVA- Wise. The Cavaliers shot 44 percent as a team- 31 percent (11-36) from the 3-point line- and- out rebounded the Falcons 46-39. The Cavaliers really hurt themselves by shooting 44 percent (11-25) from the free throw line. They had 21 assists and 13 turnovers as a team.
The game began with the Cavaliers jumping out to a 14-11 lead at the first media time out.
Koenig talked about the start:
" We did not execute on defense right out of the chute. We did not help well on Seals to start the game."
Then about three minutes later a stretch occurred where neither team scored, but then the Falcons got into the bonus with 8:24 in the half. Koenig spoke about those areas:
" Our defense kept us in the game during that stretch. We executed our offense- attacked mismatches- and- our shot selection was good for the rest of the half after that. We did not settle and made free throws as well."
The Falcons took a 44-39 lead into the locker room. Vorhees led NDC with 17 points in the opening half- while Parks added 10. NDC shot 48 percent in the first 20 minutes. They shot 31 percent from the 3-point line and 79 percent (11-14) from the free throw line. NDC had eight assists and eight turnovers in the opening half.
The Cavaliers were led by Seals who scored 11 points in the opening half. No one else from Virginia Wise scored in double figures, as Jordan Pointer added nine points. The Cavaliers shot 39 percent from the field in the first half- 28 percent (5-18) from the 3-point line- and- 47 percent (8-17) from the free throw line. They had nine assists and eight turnovers as a team.
The second half began much like the first did with the home team getting off to the better start. It was a lot of back and forth action for much of the half. The Cavaliers would regain the lead 52-51 after a Chance Sheffey 3-pointer at the 15:37 mark. At the midway point of the second stanza after a Whiteside lay up the Cavaliers held a 70-67 lead. NDC would respond with the next five points, as Scarberry would give them the lead on a 3-pointer with 8:08 to go. After the Cavaliers would tie it at 72 after a Eric Okenchi bucket at the 6:02 mark NDC took control. Thurman would give them the lead for good at the 5:38 mark with a jumper. Scarberry would hit a pair of 3-pointer's and NDC led 80-75 with 4:20 to go. Vorhees would hit the next bucket and then Thurman would take over from that point, as the Falcons would go on to the 96-85 win.
Vorhees spoke about the big shots by Scarberry, and the team closing out the win without him:
" I said that Drew was due to have a big game any day now and we didn't lose an ounce of trust in him. He hit some big ones for us tonight. As far as the last two minutes go, I made a mistake fouling out at the end of the game. Our team did not panic, held composure, and finished the game. We have great players on this team and they are more than capable of closing a game with or without me on the floor." Vorhees said.
Scarberry spoke about his shooting and talked about the contributions from his teammates in this one:
" It felt great to finally get a couple shots to go down. But it was a really good team effort. HP hit some big shots to get us started and throughout the game. Larenz, was again great tonight. He came in clutch us for us down the stretch. As well as Bruce (Hodges.) Bruce came into the game and really gave us good defense and hustled. That's exactly what we needed."
Koenig agreed about Hodges and Thurman:
" Bruce and Larenz were really good tonight. Bruce did a great job on defense, and Larenz has been unbelievable since he came back. As I said earlier it was a great team effort tonight, and it started with the defense we played on Seals. He had eight points at the first media timeout and scored seven points the rest of the game."
The Falcons will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Pennsylvania to battle Carlow. Tip time is set for 7 PM. As always you can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com
Other MEC Scores Monday:
Fairmont State 94 West Virginia State 76
Concord 99 Urbana 79
West Liberty 80 West Virginia Wesleyan 71
Glenville State 117 Wheeling Jesuit 113
Shepherd 101 Charleston 93
MEC Standings:
NDC 2-0 (4-1)
West Liberty 2-0 (4-1)
Fairmont State 2-0 (4-2)
Glenville State 1-1 (4-1)
Shepherd 1-1 (4-1)
Concord 1-1 (3-2)
UVA-Wise 1-1 (3-2)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-1 (3-2)
West Virginia State 1-1 (2-2)
Charleston 0-2 (3-2)
Urbana 0-2 (0-3)
Wheeling Jesuit 0-2 (0-4)
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