The Notre Dame College Falcons will battle the Concord Mountain Lions on Saturday at the Carter Center. The Falcons come into this game with a record of 1-6 and 0-3 in the MEC. Concord comes into the contest with a 3-5 record and 1-2 in the MEC.
NDC Coach Mark Richmond talked about this being a different opponent than the last couple the Falcons have faced:
" They are a little different than the last two teams we played. For one thing they will not apply as much pressure. They are a young team that is defining the roles they will have this season. We are looking forward to this game though. It is a very important game this early in the year."Richmond said.
Bruce Hodges spoke of the importance of this game:
"This is a big game for us. A very winnable game. As we have been preaching of late we need to play a full 40 minutes to get the win.
Drew Scarberry agreed:
" We had a stretch of almost 32-33 minutes where we played almost perfect in our last game. We didn't do the little things and that cost us the game last time out." Scarberry mentioned.
NDC is coming off a hard fought 87-79 loss to Glenville State on Wednesday. Larenz Thurman led the Falcons with 27 points- five rebounds- and- five assists in the contest. DeAnthony Owens played and made his first start of the season. The senior transfer from Edinboro tallied 23 points in the defeat. Levi Frankland added 19 of his own. NDC shot 55 percent from the field- 40 percent from the 3-point line (10-25-) and 53 percent (9-17) from the free throw line. Each team tallied 35 rebounds- while NDC had 17 assists to go with 18 turnovers. The difference was in the bench scoring on Wednesday, as the Pioneers bench scored 33 points to just two for the NDC bench. NDC comes into the game averaging 77.4 points per game which is good for seventh offensively in the MEC. Defensively the Falcons are allowing a league sixth best 81.9 points per night. The Falcons are -1 on the boards for the season (36.6-37.6.) One area the Falcons have shined in the early season is in assists where they have averaged 15 per game as a team- as opposed to just 11.9 for the opponent. NDC has turned the ball over 11.9 times per game- while forcing the opposition into 14.4 turnovers per contest.
Individually for NDC Owens scored 23 points in the one game that he has played thus far, but does not yet qualify for the scoring leaders in the conference. Frankland is putting up 17.4 points per game which is good for ninth in the MEC- while he also grabs 5.1 rebounds per contest. Larenz Thurman fresh off a 27 point performance on Wednesday is now netting 14.9 points per game- and- is fifth in the MEC dishing out 3.9 assists per night. Dae John Walker-Bey leads the Falcons at seven rebounds per game- while Drew Scarberry is grabbing six rebounds per contest.
The Mountain Lions are coming off a 61-58 loss to Urbana last time out. Malik Johnson led the way with 21 points- while Kelly Martin Jr. netted 16. Concord is scoring a league fourth best 80.6 points per game- while they are allowing a league eighth best 81.8 points per night. Ethan Heller leads the Mountain Lions at 14.4 points per game- while Martin . is scoring 12.6 a night. Trey Brisco is shooting 48 percent from the 3-point line for the Mountain Lions.
Richmond talked about the defensive game plan tomorrow:
" We are continuing to evolve defensively. The zone has been good to us at times this season. It is nice to have some long guys in DeAnthony (Owens-) and- Sala (Jacob Sala.) You need to practice the zone though just like you practice the man to man. I feel like we could change the momentum of the game- and- get it to go in our favor with the zone.
Hodges talked about the defensive end as well:
" We need to talk defensively. When you start four seniors and a sophomore it is not acceptable to not talk on defense like we have at times this season. Being tired is not an excuse."
Scarberry gave his final thoughts including how his role has changed and what it will take to get him going offensively:
" We are a smaller team than we were last year. It is my job to be the gel guy this year, I do not need to be the leader scorer. It is my job to get guys like Larenz- Levi- Bruce- and- DeAnthony going. We need to execute on both ends."
Hodges gave his last thought before the game:
" As I said earlier we need to talk on defense. We have has some lapses because we stopped talking. We just need to limit those mental lapses that we have had."
Everyone interviewed had the same closing message:
"The goal is to go 1-0 tomorrow."
Other MEC Games Saturday:
Wheeling @West Virginia Wesleyan
Frostburg State @ Charleston
Urbana @Glenville State
West Liberty @ Davis & Elkins
Fairmont State @ West Virginia State
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 2-1 (5-1)
West Virginia State 2-1 (5-1)
Glenville State 2-1 (5-2)
West Liberty 2-1 (5-2)
Wheeling 2-1 (5-2)
Davis &Elkins 2-1 (4-4)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-1 (2-6)
Charleston 1-2 (5-2)
Concord 1-2 (3-5)
Frostburg State 1-2 (2-5)
Urbana 1-2 (2-5)
NDC 0-3 (1-6)
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