The Notre Dame College Falcons got off to a slow start on Monday, got to within a basket late but ultimately fell 70-66 to the Edinboro Fighting Scots in front of a big crowd inside Murphy Gym for the home opener.
Levi Frankland led NDC (0-3) with 19 points in this one. He was one of a pair of players in double figures, as Larenz Thurman added 17. Jordan Burton scored nine. Bruce Hodges stuffed the stat sheet scoring nine points- grabbing six rebounds- and also had four steals.. Frankland added nine rebounds as well. The Falcons shot 38 percent from the field in the game- 15 percent (5-33) from the 3-point line- and- 69 percent (9-13) at the free throw line. They had 10 assists and 11 turnovers in the contest.
Edinboro was led by Anthony Coleman who poured in a game high 28 points- Jaryn Simpson added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Fighting Scots shot 41 percent from the field on the night- 36 percent (8-22) from the 3-point line and 63 percent (10-16) at the free throw line. Edinboro won the rebounding battle 45-36. They had nine assists and 16 turnovers as a team.
NDC Coach Mark Richmond talked about the crowd and getting off to a slow start:
"I appreciate everybody coming out today. Obviously we did not come out like we needed to tonight. We did battle in the second half though.
Richmond continued and talked about the night that Coleman had:
"We did want to give him some space but obviously we struggled to keep him in front. He went 12-20 from the field so obviously his numbers were pretty good tonight."
Edinboro (3-0) would score the first four points before the Falcons would score the next eight after a Burton 3-pointer followed by a Thurman 3-ball. NDC would have a 10-9 lead at the first media time out of the contest. The Fighting Scots would score the next seven points and lead 16-10 after a pair of Coleman free throws. Halfway thru the opening stanza the Falcons would trail 20-14. The lead would grow to 10 (27-17) after a Coleman jumper with 6:10 to go in the half. After a Drew Scarberry 3-pointer and a basket by Frankland NDC was back within five (27-22.) A Dae John Walker-Bey tip in would trim the lead to three (27-24) with 3:46 in the half. The Fighting Scots would score the last six points of the half and take a 33-24 lead into the locker room.
NDC was led by Walker-Bey and Burton with five points each in the opening half. They shot 30 percent as a team- 14 percent (3-21) from the 3-point line- and- made the only free throw they attempted in the half. The Falcons had six assists and nine turnovers as a team in the first 20 minutes.
Coleman led Edinboro with 12 points in the first half- while Simpson added 11. The Fighting Scots shot 41 percent in the half- they shot 29 percent (4-14) from the 3-point line- and- 38 percent (3-8) at the free throw line. The Fighting Scots held a slight edge on the glass 23-21. They had four assists and six turnovers in the opening stanza.
Trey Staunch scored the first basket of the second half for Edinboro and a lay up by Coleman stretched the lead to 11. NDC would score the next five points to get to within six (37-31) after a Frankland lay up with 17:46 to go. The lead would be trimmed to four before the Fighting Scots would stretch it to 13 (52-39) after a Coleman jumper with 11:27 remaining. Alex Jay would hit a 3-pointer after a pair of free throws by Scarberry and it would be 55-41 with 10:45 left. Being down 13 (58-45) with 7:33 to go NDC would battle back. Thurman would score the next six points and then a free throw by Frankland made it 58-52 with 4:18 left. Steven Freeman and Thurman would then trade 3-balls- Simpson would split a pair of free throws and NDC would get another Thurman bucket followed by a steal and break away dunk by Scarberry that made it 62-59 with 2:42 to go. Thurman would split a pair of free throws at the 1:50 mark and then Turner Kurt made it 64-60 with under a minute to go. Thurman made a pair of free throws with 49 seconds and the Falcons were within two again. Turner hit a pair of free throws with 31 seconds to get it back out to a four point lead. Frankland would score on a tip in after a missed Scarberry 3-pointer and it would be 66-64 with 13 seconds to go. Simpson drained a pair of free throws and Frankland would convert on a layup to make it 68-66 with five seconds to go. After a time out Daylon Harris would end it with a pair of free throws with 1.7 seconds to go.
Richmond talked about how his team battled in the second half:
" We battled in the second half. Obviously that half is more like what we want. Edinboro is a good team and they are going to win a lot of games in the PSAC. Our kids are resilient though. Obviously we are not good enough to just turn it on in the second half like we did tonight. The good news though is we turn around and play again Wednesday, so we will being doing this again in 48 hours."
Scarberry talked about his team after a tough shooting night:
" I mean we know that we aren't always going to shoot that bad. We must come out with better energy from the tip though. We aren't playing in games this season, we are in a war this year. Every game is a battle. We have to come out ready to fight and claw with every team."
Thurman talked about the game afterwards:
" Tough to lose the home opener, but it was a rough night for most of us. Gotta learn from it and get better. For now, we have to put this game behind us and get ready for Wednesday."
Hodges gave his quick thought:
" We gotta come out playing our hearts out from the tip. We need to be one on the court! We gotta be family.
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they host Wright State Lake. Tip time is set for 6:30 PM at Murphy Gym.
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