The fifth seeded Notre Dame College Falcons (16-12 12-10 MEC) will battle the fourth seeded West Virginia State Yellow Jackets (20-8 14-8 MEC) in the MEC Quarterfinals tomorrow (Friday) night at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia. Tip time is slated for 8:30 PM and you can catch all the action on the Mountain East Digital Network on MountainEast.TV
"Obviously they got us the first two times. We made some adjustments and are going to do a few things differently," NDC head coach Mark Richmond explained.
The winner of Friday's #4 vs #5 matchup will take on the winner of #1 West Liberty and #8 Concord on Saturday at 6 PM.
NDC lost 79-73 to Alderson Broaddus on the road in the season finale on Saturday. Jaedon Willis led the way with 28 points, while Obinna Ugwuakazi added 15 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, and DeAirius Barker added 14 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
NDC scores 80.9 points per game which is good for eighth in the MEC, while defensively they are second in the MEC giving up 76.6 points per night. NDC shoots 43.7 percent from the field which is good for 11th in the conference, while they hold the opposition to 43.4 percent shooting which is third in the MEC. The Falcons are shooting 36.4 percent from the 3-point line which is fourth in the MEC, while they hold the opposition to 30.2 percent shooting from the 3-point line which is tops in the league. NDC shoots an MEC second best 75.6 percent from the free throw line which is second in the MEC, on the glass NDC is +0.5 (38.5-38.0) rebounds per contest.
Willis has been the engine that makes the Falcons go all season long. The Baltimore native scores 21.2 points per game which is good for second in the MEC and 20th in the country. The All-MEC First Team member has scored 593 total points which is 21st in all of Division II. At the free throw line Willis shoots 89 percent which is second in the MEC. Willis is eighth in all of Division 2 with 162 free throws made and 25th in free throws attempted with 182. The senior shoots 39.9 percent from the 3-point line which is third in the MEC and Willis also makes 2.8 triples per contest which is fourth in the MEC. Willis is also averaging 32.9 minutes per contest which is good for eighth in the MEC. Barker leads the team in assists dishing out 3.0 assists per contest. The Cincinnati native also averages in double figures at 11.9 points per game. The All-MEC Honorable Mention member gets 1.3 steals per night as well. Ugwuakazi has been on a roll on the glass of late propeling him to a team leading 6.3 rebounds per contest.
"We are excited for the opportunity and look forward to the challenge. We look forward to competing on Friday," Willis said.
In the first meeting with WVSU ( a 88-82 NDC loss) Willis had 28, Barker notched 15, and Crawford netted 11. In the second meeting (a 86-78 loss) Crawford had 18, Ugwuakazi had 17 to go along with 16 rebounds, Willis had 12, Barker tallied 11, and Daylin Lee scored 10.
West Virginia State comes into Friday on a three game win streak and as the ninth seed in the latest Atlantic Region Rankings (Top eight qualify.) Last time out the Yellow Jackets came up with a 92-81 win over Charleston on Saturday. Dwaine Jones led the way with 19 points, Taveon Horton and Antonio Carter scored 15 as well. Both Ibn Loyal and Samier Kinsler scored 12 in the win.
Richmond talked about the Yellow Jackets:
"They are playing very well going into the tournament. They have won three in a row."
As a team they score 89 points per game which is good for seventh in the country and 3rd in the MEC. On the defensive end they are sixth in the MEC giving up 81.8 points per game. They shoot 47 percent from the field which is fourth in the MEC. The opposition shoots 45 percent against WVSU which is sixth in the MEC. The Yellow Jackets in both 3-point percentage (38 percent) and 3-point percentage against (31 percent.) At the free throw line they shoot an MEC 10th best 68 percent. On the glass the Yellow Jackets are 11th in the MEC getting 38.6 rebounds per game as opposed to 39.8 rebonds for the opposition.
Kinsler paces the season box score at 16.6 points per game which is good for ninth in the MEC. Malik Whitaker tallies 14.1 points per game while his 7.2 rebounds per contest are seventh in the conference. Whitaker is also 10th in the MEC in blocked shots at 0.8 blocks per night. Noah Jordan puts up 11.5 points per game, Pittman nets 11.3 points per night and grabs seven rebounds per contest. Horton also scores in double figures at 11 points per night. Dwaine Jones dishes out 4.4 assists per night which is fourth in the MEC.
In the first meeting with NDC ( a 88-82 win) Pittman led the way with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. Horton had 16, Bunny Brown tallied 12, Jordan added 11, and Kinsler added 10. In the second meeting (a 86-78 win) Kinsler notched 22, Whitaker had 18, Loyal scored 14, and Horton netted 11.
Richmond gave the final thoughts:
"We are more worried about ourselves than any opponent at this point of the season. We have some leaders on the team that have really worked hard this season and I expect them to play well. The goal is to win three games in three days, but we have to get the first one to keep going."
MEC First Round Scores (Wednesday:)
Other MEC Quarterfinals Friday:
# 3 Charleston vs #6 Davis & Elkins: 2:30 PM
Atlantic Region Rankings (Through Games 2/26:)
Indiana (PA) 26-1
West Liberty 25-3
MercyHurst 22-4
Virginia Union 22-7
Fairmont State 21-6
Pitt-Johnstown 18-9
West Chester 21-7
East Stroudsburg
West Virginia State 19-8
Winston-Salem 18-8
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