Something has to give in Saturday's MEC Conference showdown between the Fighting Falcons of Fairmont State and the Notre Dame College Falcons. NDC comes into the game on a eight game home win streak- while Fairmont State has only lost once away from Joe Retton Arena in the campaign. The game tips off at 4 PM from Murphy Gym- as NDC concludes a three game home stand. You can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com
NDC Coach Tim Koenig talked about the importance of a good start and set up the matchup:
" Obviously it is important and we want to get off to a good start. Fairmont goes on 9-0 runs because they shoot so many 3-pointer's- but they also give up 9-0 or 12-0 runs the other way as well. We need to minimize the attempts they get. They can not shoot it any better than they did in the first meeting. We will make a few adjustments defensively as compared to the last meeting. They made shots. We are not sure who is going to guard who- but we will figure that out." Koenig said.
NDC (15-6 11-4 MEC) is coming off a 78-53 thrashing of Shepherd at Murphy Gym om Thursday night. Will Vorhees led NDC with 31 points- and- tied his career high with 20 rebounds in the contest. The senior from Lima,OH now needs 31 points to become the all-time leading scorer in NDC history. Larenz Thurman set the tone with a trio of 3-pointer's early- and- scored 13 points to go along with four assists. Drew Scarberry tallied nine points and seven rebounds in the victory- while Bruce Hodges scored nine points- grabbed eight rebounds- and- dished out six assists. The story of the night though was the Falcons defense. They held the Shepherd trio of Tommy Lang- Derek McKnight- and- Winston Burgess to a total of eight points in the contest. Hodges held Lang who came into the night averaging more than 18 points a contest scoreless- Halil Parks held McKnight to just four- and- the combination of Vorhees- Hamish Warden- and- Scarberry held Burgess to just four points and five rebounds. The Falcons shot 46 percent from the field- 39 percent from the 3-point line (11-28-) and- 70 percent (7-10) at the free throw line.
In the first meeting with Fairmont back on January 19th NDC fell 97-86 on the road. Thurman scored 31 points in the first meeting- Vorhees scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds- Hodges added 16- and- Scarberry chipped in 14 in that one. NDC shot 46 percent from the field- 37 percent from the 3-point line- and- 62 percent (11-18) at the free throw line.
On the importance of a guy like Hodges who is such a good defender on the offensive end as well:
" Bruce cuts real hard- he screens well- he gets to loose balls. Obviously if they double Will he will get more open shots." Koenig explained.
On the importance of Sanders as well:
"Isaiah is an athlete who can match the athletes that Fairmont has. He played thru it but he got hurt with a concussion in the first meeting with Fairmont in the first half. "
On the importance of Vorhees:
"Will did not have one of his better games in the first meeting. I am not worried about Will. He is going to make the right play. He wants to win so badly."
Vorhees leads the season box score averaging 26.2 points- and- 11.5 rebounds per contest. Thurman is next putting up 18.6 points per night- with a team leading 4.5 assists per contest. Isaiah Sanders is scoring 11.5 points per game- and- Parks puts up 10.7 per night. As a team the Falcons are scoring 85.9 points a night- while they give up 77.8 on the defensive end. They are +3.7 on the boards (39.3-35.6 on the season.)
The Fighting Falcons (16-5 13-2 MEC) are coming off a 86-74 win over Urbana last time out. Vonte Montgomery led FSU with 23 points and 11 rebounds- Andrew Emrick had 21- Jason Jolly added 20- and- Cole Von Handorf netted 11. They shot 52 percent as a team- and- 30 percent from the 3-point line - and- 61 percent (11-18) from the free throw line
Koenig talked about Fairmont:
" They can score. They are a really good team. They are so good on offense I don't see anyway we will play the same defense for 40 minutes against them. We will change defenses."
In the first meeting between the two teams Jolly paced Fairmont with 27- Kenzie Melko added 24- Montgomery tallied a double-double (16 points and 10 rebounds-) while Von Handorf netted 11- and- R.J. Hutcherson tallied 10. The Fighting Falcons shot 52 percent (17-33) from the 3-point line as a team- they shot 55 percent from the field. Jolly leads the team in scoring at 18.7 points per night- as he shoots 44 percent from the 3-point line. Montgomery puts up 17.2 points per game- and- grabs 7.9 rebounds a contest. Emrick scores 11.2 per game- Von Handorf is nettting 10.8 per contest- and- Melko is averaging 10.2 per contest. The Fighting Falcons average 86 points a game as a team- while they give up 78.6 points on the defensive end.
Other MEC Games Saturday:
West Virginia Wesleyan @ West Virginia State
Glenville State @ Charleston
West Liberty @ Concord
Shepherd @ Urbana
Wheeling Jesuit @ Virginia Wise
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 14-1 (18-2)
Fairmont State 13-2 (16-5)
NDC 11-4 (15-6)
Charleston 9-6 (14-7)
Concord 9-6 (14-7)
West Virginia State 8-7 (11-10)
Shepherd 6-9 (10-11)
West Virginia Wesleyan 6-9 (9-12)
Glenville State 4-11 (9-12)
Virginia Wise 4-11 (7-14)
Urbana 3-12 (5-14)
Wheeling Jesuit 3-12 (4-17)
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