The Notre Dame College Falcons and University of Charleston Golden Eagles met in the Quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament on Friday night at WesBanco Arena. NDC got 21 points from redshirt sophomore Devin Haid, junior Andre Harris added 10, and senior Trent Williams netted eight in the 75-58 loss. Shunta Wilson scored 21, Dwaine Jones added 15, and Tyler Eberhart tallied 12 to lead Charleston. NDC sees its season come to an end at 15-14. Charleston improves to 25-4 and advances to the MEC semifinals where they will play West Virginia State on Saturday at 6 PM.
"It was obviously a tough result. Charleston came ready to play. You have to give them credit. Shooting 25 percent in the first half was not ideal," NDC head coach Mark Richmond said. "We couldn't get back into it," he added. "We took some bad shots and got out rebounded and we had to claw back the rest of the way," Williams mentioned.
UC jumped out to a 7-0 lead after a Wilson basket at the 16:51 mark of the opening half. Williams got NDC on the board with a basket at the 16:19 mark of the first stanza. Haid hit a jumper but the Golden Eagles would extend the lead to 16-4 with 13:20 until halftime. Back to back Harris layups would pull NDC within single digits. Haid hit a pair of free throws and a jumper to make it 20-12 UC with 9:48 until halftime. After a Haid 3-pointer it was a 20-15 game with 9:21 until intermission. NDC would go on a 5-0 run late in the first half as Harris made a layup and freshman Geo Moore hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 10 (30-20.) Wilson made a layup and it was 32-20 UC at the halftime break.
Haid had nine and Harris notched six in the opening stanza. NDC shot 25 percent from the field, 11.8 percent (2-17) from the 3-point line, and 50 percent (2-4) from the free throw line in the opening stanza. UC was paced by Wilson with 12 and Eberhart eight in the first 20 minutes. The Golden Eagles shot 46.4 percent from the field, 12.5 percent (1-8) from the 3-point line, and 55.6 percent (5-9) from the free throw line in the first half.
The lead was extended to 16 to open the second half for UC when NDC got two free throws and a layup from Haid. The NDC deficit was still 12 (52-40) when Haid scored again at the 11:23 mark. A 6-0 run by UC would extend the lead to 18 (62-44) NDC would get to within 13 on a Jamarr Talbert triple at the 4:25 mark. That would be as close as the Falcons would get the rest of the way.
NDC shot 34.9 percent from the field, 30.8 percent (8-26) from the 3-point line, and 66.7 percent (4-6) from the free throw line in the game. Haid had 21 points and five rebounds, while Harris added 10, and Williams hit a pair of triples on his way to eight. The Falcons had seven assists and nine turnovers in this one.
The Golden Eagles shot 58.2 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent (6-18) from the 3-point line, and 45.5 percent (5-11) at the free throw line in the game. Wilson had 21 and seven rebounds, Jones added 15, and Eberhart added 12 to go with six boards. UC had 14 assists and 17 turnovers in the contest. They won the rebounding battle 44-26.
Richmond said this about digging an early hole:
"We expended a lot of energy coming back. We just couldn't get over the hump. There was a stretch there in the mid second half where there was not a dead ball. Not many subs were made in this game. We just ran out of juice after that. I probably should have used a timeout ut had to use a couple to stay afloat in the second half."
"We had some good looks in the second half and they just weren't falling," Haid added.
"I feel like it was bad shots and we didn't kick it out to shooters as much as we needed too," Williams said.
"We just dug ourselves a hole and we couldn't get enough stops when we needed too," Haid explained.
Williams agreed:
"We would get close and the shot selection was not great or we would have good ones and didn't make them which dragged down our defense."
Richmond talked about the season:
"I never questioned our effort throughout the season. We had some games where we dug ourselves a hole and we were able to fix that. We had a lot of distractions throughout the year. It was a unique season because we had a winning record on the road and a losing record at home which really bugs me. We fought really hard and were playing really well late in the season."
OtherMEC Quarterfinal Scores:
Concord 82 Davis & Elkins 74
West Liberty 103 Glenville State 82
West Virginia State 85 Fairmont State 80
MEC Semifinals Saturday:
Charleston vs West Virginia State: 6 PM
West Liberty vs Concord: 830 PM
Atlantic Region Rankings:
Gannon
Cal (PA)
Charleston
West Liberty
Millersville
East Stroudsburg
Concord
Lock Haven
West Virginia State
Fairmont State
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