The Notre Dame College Falcons are the fifth seed in the Mountain East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament presented by the Health Plan. They will take on the fourth seeded and 23rd ranked Fairmont State Fighting Falcons in the MEC Quarterfinals at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia. Tip time is set for 8:30 PM Friday night. You can catch all the action on the Mountain East Conference Digital Network at MountainEast.TV
NDC head coach Mark Richmond talked about the challenge ahead:
"The guys are excited to get back out there. This is what you work for all season long as a program, "Richmond explained. " We are excited to be playing in prime time with the 8:30 tip on Friday night. We have had a good week of practice to this point. We are excited to play in front of a good crowd at WesBanco Arena, the guys also know it is win or go home."
NDC Guard Jaedon Willis gave his thoughts:
"We played two close games against Fairmont this year. I think we will come out with a lot of energy on Friday night and we look forward to the opportunity, "Willis mentioned.
NDC (15-13 12-10 MEC) is 6-16 all time against Fairmont State but hold a 2-1 record in the MEC Tournament. Last time the two teams met was in March of 2019 when NDC came away with a 85-67 win in the MEC Semifinals. As a team NDC scores 79.4 points per game on both offense and defense. They are seventh on the offensive end while they are 4th on the defensive end. They shoot 46.2 percent from the field which is eighth in the MEC. NDC is tied for 4th in the MEC shooting 37 percent from the 3-point line. NDC is fifth in the MEC as well shooting 74.3 percent from the free throw line. On the glass the Falcons are eighth in the conference being out-rebounded by 1.6 (34.4-36) boards per night. NDC is fourth in turnover margin (12.7-13.2) turnovers per night. NDC is sixth in the MEC dishing out 14.7 assists per contest.
In the first meeting with Fairmont State on January 8th Willis scored 23 points, Tyland Crawford added 14, and Mike Kirkland tallied 13. NDC shot 52 percent from the field, 39 percent (10-24) from the 3-point line and 79 percent (11-14) in the game. In the victory in South Euclid for NDC on February 9th Wilis scored 19, Daylin Lee added 18, DeAirius Barker scored 14, and Mike Sampson tallied 10 points to go with 10 rebounds. NDC shot 45 percent from the field, 26 percent (5-19) from the 3-point line and 65 percent (11-17) at the free throw line.
The last time out the NDC Falcons lost 79-65 to Alderson Broaddus on Saturday. Willis scored 19, Crawford netted 13, and Lee tallied 10. NDC shot 39 percent from the field, 38 percent from the 3-point line (8-21) and 82 percent (9-11) at the free throw line.
Willis was named All-MEC First team on Tuesday. He is averaging an MEC third best 20.8 points per game on the year which is 10th in NDC history and 21st in the country. In addition the junior from Baltimore is 11th in the country in total points (581,) 3rd in the MEC in 3-point percentage (38.9 percent) including making three 3's per night which is second in the conference. He is shooting at an 83.1 percent clip from the free throw line which is sixth in the MEC. This includes 123 free throws made which is 24th in the country. Willis also leads the team in assists dishing out three per game. Crawford is also averaging in double figures at 12.3 points per contest while Sampson is scoring 10.9 points per game and his eight rebounds per contest are sixth in the conference. Sampson is fifth in the MEC in total rebounds (225,) and Defensive rebounds (159) while he is fourth in the conference getting 66 offensive boards. The junior from Houston also has 34 steals (3rd MEC) and 1.9 steals per game (fifth MEC.)
The Fighting Falcons (22-6 16-6 MEC) who are currently sixth in the Atlantic Region fell to Frostburg State on Saturday as Isaiah Sanders scored 18, Zyon Dobbs added 15 to go with 10 rebounds. Cole Von Handorf scored 14 and Briggs Parris scored 10. In a 101-68 win over Carlow last time out George Mangas scored 22, Kyle Whippen had 21, Von Handorf had 17, Parris 14, and Sanders tallied 13 to go with nine boards. The Fighting Falcons shot 49 percent from the field, 29 percent (10-34) from the 3-point line and 64 percent (7-11) from the free throw line. Fairmont is third in the MEC and 10th in the country scoring 87.8 points per game. Fairmont is second in the MEC allowing 77.8 points per game. They shoot 36.3 percent (6th in the MEC) from the 3-point line. They shoot at a 75 percent clip which is third in the MEC from the foul line. The Fighting Falcons are fourth in the in the MEC out-rebounding the opposition (+1.1 38.0-36.9.) They are second in the conference in turnover margin (12.9-10.7.)
In the first meeting with NDC on January 8th Von Handorf who was named All-MEC Second team yesterday scored 27 points. Sanders who was an All-MEC First Team Selection netted 23, while both Zyon Dobbs (All MEC Second Team) and Mangas had 10. They shot 45 percent as a team in the win, 32 percent (9-28) from the 3-point line and 75 percent (24-32) from the free throw line.
In the loss on February 9th Sanders led the way with 21, Von Handorf added 17, Mangas had 13 and Dobbs tallied 12. The Fighting Falcons shot 41 percent from the field, 26 percent (6-23) from the 3-point line and 79 percent (11-14) from the free throw line.
Sanders is fourth in the conference scoring 20.7 points per game and is shooting an MEC second best 88.4 percent from the free throw line. The senior from Sickerville, New Jersey is also 12th in the country in total points (579.) Von Handorf is shooting 54.6 percent from the field which is fifth in the MEC. Parris is second in the MEC shooting 41 percent from distance as he is making 2.8 three's per night which is third in the conference. Dobbs leads the team in assists and is also grabbing 6.6 rebounds per night.
The winner of Friday night's contest will face the winner of the West Liberty vs the #8/9 matchup winner on Saturday at 6 PM.
MEC Tournament Games Wednesday:
Other MEC Games Friday:
Atlantic Region Rankings (Through Games 2/27:)
West Liberty (26-2)
Indiana (PA) (25-2)
Cal (PA) (19-8 )
West Virginia State (23-6)
MercyHurst (22-5)
Fairmont State (21-6)
Pitt-Johnstown (19-8)
Millersville (22-5)
Virginia Union (23-7)
Charleston (21-6)
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