The Notre Dame College Falcons and the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons did battle in front of a large crowd at Murphy Gym on Wednesday night. It was the home standing Falcons who came away with the 78-73 win, as they held the ninth best offense in Division II to 15 points under their season average. With the win NDC has now won four straight and has a record of 14-9 and 11-6 in the MEC. Fairmont State falls to 18-4 and 13-4 in the MEC after they saw a three game win streak snapped.
NDC Forward Mike Sampson talked about the defensive effort:
"We wanted to come out and make a statement on the defensive end. We wanted our defense to be our best offense, "Sampson explained.
NDC head coach Mark Richmond elaborated on what Sampson said:
"I was really proud of our defense and rebounding tonight, "Richmond mentioned. We did a solid job of guarding their actions. To hold that team to 41 percent shooting and to out-rebound them as big and athletic as they are is impressive. We had some big offensive rebounds (11 of them) and this was the first time this year where we really sat down in a stance and got stops when we needed to. It was definitely a complete team effort."
Both teams got off to a slow start on the offensive end as neither team scored in the games first two minutes. George Mangas hit a pair of free throws to get the Fighting Falcons on the board. Mike Sampson did the same for NDC three and a half minutes in. The Fighting Falcons led 8-4 when the NDC Falcons would battle back to take the lead. After a Daylin Lee jam off a Deairius Barker dish the Falcons had the 11-10 lead. Lee continued to provide a spark of the NDC bench as another three-point play gave the Falcons a 18-14 lead with 9:02 in the first half. A Sampson layup at the 8:04 mark stretched the NDC lead to six (20-14) with 8:04 on the first half clock. The Fighting Falcons would pull within two on a few occasions in the opening frame but they would answer. Jaedon Willis knocked down a 3-pointer at the 1:16 mark that made it 29-24. It was 31-28 in favor of NDC at halftime. NDC was led by Lee with 10 off the bench and Sampson with six and five rebounds in the opening stanza. They shot 38 percent from the field in the first half, 17 percent (2-12) from the 3-point line and made the only free throw they attempted in the opening half. They led on the boards 24-22 as well in the first half. Fairmont State was led by 10 points from Von Handorf in the opening half, while Dobbs and Mangas scored six apiece. The Fighting Falcons shot 35 percent from the field and were 0-5 from the 3-point line in the opening stanza. They shot 80 percent (4-5) at the free throw line in the half as well.
Willis who is one of the top scorers in the conference scored the first five points of the second half. Fairmont would get to within two (37-35) after an Isaiah Sanders basket but NDC would get another Willis jumper. That would be answered by a Dobbs 3-pointer that cut the NDC lead to one. Then Barker would go to work for NDC as he would go on a personal run of his own that made it 48-42 after a three-point play at the 12:36 mark.
Richmond talked about how excited he is about Barker:
"We are really excited about DeAirius and his continued success. He is a guy who we have been waiting on to take his next step in his development this year. I was more proud of his five assists than his 14 points today. He was making the right reads. Although he is playing really well he is still a freshman."
A 3-pointer by Tyland Crawford and another bucket by Crawford stretched the NDC lead to 11 (55-44) with 10:29 on the clock. After a Barker jumper at the 7:13 mark the NDC lead was still 10 (61-51.) Von Handorf hit a 3-ball but NDC had an answer as Barker hit a jumper and a 3-ball of his own to stretch the lead to 12 (66-54.) After three free throws by Briggs Parris at the 3:36 mark Fairmont was within seven (68-61.) Willis hit two NDC free throws but a Sanders 3-pointer made it 70-64 NDC with 2:30 remaining. Sampson and Von Handorf traded buckets and NDC saw Willis split a pair of free throws to make it 73-66 with 54 seconds on the clock. A Sanders 3-pointer with 33seconds pulled the Fighting Falcons within three (74-71.) Lee would split a pair and Younkin would score to make it a 75-73 game with three seconds left. Lee would again split a pair and NDC would need one last stop which they would get on a Willis steal. Willis knocked down two free throws to secure the 78-73 win.
Richmond talked about his team on offense tonight:
"We did a good job of making layups and finishing around the rim tonight. That is a big reason why we had four players score in double figures tonight. He also talked about Willis:
"Jaedon really plays under control. He gets so much attention that it opens up other guys as well."
Willis led NDC with 19 points on the night to go with six rebounds and a pair of steals,Lee contributed 18 off the bench, Barker added 14 points and five assists, while Sampson tallied 10 points to go along with 10 rebounds. As a team NDC shot 45 percent from the field, 26 percent (5-19) from the 3-point line, and 65 percent (11-17) from the free throw line. The Falcons had 16 assists and 10 turnovers in the contest. They also won the rebounding battle 43-38. The NDC bench also out-scored Fairmont 26-5 in the contest.
For Fairmont they were led by Sanders who had 17 of his 21 points in the second half, Von Handorf scored 17, Mangas added 13, and Dobbs tallied 12. Seth Younkin led the Fighting Falcons on the glass with 15 boards. 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. They had eight assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
Tyland Crawford talked about the win for NDC:
"It wasn't the best shooting night for me but all my shots felt good. Those two back to back shots I made gave us a spark and we just had to keep going. It was an all around effort today."
NDC will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Frostburg State. Tip time is slated for 4 PM.
Other MEC Scores Wednesday:
West Liberty 102 Glenville State 70
West Virginia State 112 Davis & Elkins 87
Wheeling 82 Concord 80
Charleston 92 West Virginia Wesleyan 63
Alderson Broaddus 74 Frostburg State 72
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 15-2 (21-2)
Fairmont State 13-4 (18-4)
Charleston 13-4 (18-5)
West Virginia State 12-4 (17-6)
NDC 11-6 (14-9)
Alderson Broaddus 8-9 (11-10)
Concord 8-9 (10-12)
Wheeling 7-10 (8-15)
Glenville State 5-11 (8-12)
Davis & Elkins 4-13 (6-17)
Frostburg State 4-13 (6-17)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-16 (2-21)
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