The Notre Dame College Falcons will head south to Melbourne,Florida for the Florida Tech Winter Classic on the campus of the Florida Institute of Technology. On Sunday NDC will face the host Panthers at 7 PM before they face the Lynn Fighting Knights on Monday at 4:30 PM. You can catch all the action on the Sunshine State Digital network. Lynn will play Lake Superior State at 4:30 on Sunday, and on Monday Florida Tech will play Lake Superior State at 7 PM.
Coach Mark Richmond gave his thoughts ahead of the trip:
"We are excited to see where we are as a team going into the christmas break. Both teams will present some challenges for us. We are looking forward to going down and playing a couple games in a warmer climate going into break and seeing where we are as a team, "Richmond explained.
Noting the Falcons: NDC comes in with a record of 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the MEC. Last time out they were a 86-75 winner over Bryant and Stratton Buffalo on Wednesday night as they matched the best start in NDC program history. Jaedon Willis led the Falcons with 26 points while Tyland Crawford added 14 in the victory. They shot 54 percent from the field and 50 percent (11-22) from the 3-point line. As a team the Falcons are fifth in the MEC scoring 81.2 points per game while they allow 78.4 points per game which is also fifth in the conference. They are fourth in the conference shooting at a 48 percent clip while they shoot 41 percent from the 3-point line as they make nine 3-pointer's per night. They shoot 72 percent from the free throw line and are seventh in the MEC in rebounding margin as they are being out rebounded by 1.6 per game (34-35.6) which is seventh in the conference.
Willis is pouring in a team leading and MEC fourth best 21.4 points per game. He shoots 42 percent from the field and an MEC fifth best 38 percent from the 3-point line. The junior from Baltimore continues to lead the conference in 3-pointer's made per game (3.4.) Willis is also 10th in the MEC in minutes played at 33.5 per night. Crawford is scoring 13.6 points per contest while Mike Sampson scores 11.2 points per game. The junior from Houston is in the top ten in the MEC in minutes played (34.5 which is sixth,) rebounds per game (8.7 which is fourth,) and steals per game (2.4 which is fourth.) He also is averaging 3.4 assists per game which is eighth in the MEC.
Richmond scouted Florida Tech:
" To this point Florida Tech has had a tremendous year. A couple things that jump out about them is that they are 6-0 at home and they play a different style. They will be playing a lot of matchup zone. We will have to gang rebound against them. Mekhii Noble has 128 rebounds in 10 games that is pretty impressive. We will have to get a body on him first. We are going to have to gang rebound, rebound by committee against them. The guards will have to help as well. They have another guy who is averaging eight rebounds a game (Mate Papai) as well so it is not just Noble. Noble will be key though, as we will have to box him out, hit him first. Sometimes you might not get the ball but you have to make sure that it is not him."
Noting the Panthers: Florida Tech (8-2 3-1 SSC) is coming off a 36 point loss (112-76) to #5 Nova Southeastern last time out that snapped their eight game win streak. Sesan Russell leads Tech in scoring netting 17.6 points per game while he dishes out a team leading 5.6 assists per night. Noble has been a monster all season as he puts up 16.3 points per game and is grabbing 12.8 rebounds per night. Sean Houpt is getting 13.1 per game, while Runako Ziegler gets 12.1 per contest. The Panthers average 85.8 points per game while they allow 74.5 per contest.
Richmond talked about Lynn:
" Lynn is a very talented bunch. They are very well coached and have a coach (Jeff Price) who coached at both West Virginia Wesleyan and in the old West Virginia Athletic Conference prior to getting to Boca Raton.They always have talented players and good athletes. They hit a rough patch after starting out the season 4-0. "
Noting the Fighting Knights: Lynn (5-3 1-3 SSC) is coming off a 86-54 win over Georgian Court on Wednesday. Christian Peevy scored 14 points, Inrahima Sankare and Brandon Ellis each tallied 13, while Jamison Evans had 10 in the victory.
Lynn comes into the game averaging 83.6 points per game which is sixth in the SSC. They are the best team in the SSC on the defensive end giving up 68.9 points per night. They averaging 39.3 rebounds per game. Peevy leads the team in scoring getting 20.1 points per game, Brandon Bornelus scores 13.4 per night, and Tommie Luke puts up 11.3 points per night.
MEC Standings:
NDC 5-1 (8-2)
West Liberty 5-1 (9-1)
Charleston 4-1 (7-2)
Fairmont State 4-2 (7-2)
Alderson Broaddus 3-3 (6-4)
Frostburg State 3-3 (5-7)
Glenville State 2-3 (4-4)
West Virginia State 2-3 (5-5)
Wheeling 2-3 (3-7)
Concord 2-4 (4-7)
Davis & Elkins 2-4 (3-7)
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-6 (1-10)
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