The Notre Dame College Falcons and Fairmont State Fighting Falcons got together on Saturday at Murphy Gym. After Andre Harris hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring to get NDC to within three with 4:21 left but NDC would only score two points the rest of the way as they fell 79-63. With the loss NDC falls to 7-8 and 3-7 in the MEC. Fairmont improves to 12-4 and 5-4 in the MEC after winning for the eight time in the past nine contests.
"We just didn't finish very well. Had it down to a three point game with four minutes to go but made some mistakes, took some quick shots and turned it over in critical situations. We had to foul late, didn't finish the way we needed to and didn't make the right plays. It got away from us late," NDC head coach Mark Richmond explained.
Junior Josh Dames led NDC with 13 points and redshirt junior Andre Harris tallied 10 in the loss.
Fairmont was led by Cameron Whiteside who scored 24 points, David Jolinder added 23, and Tommy Williams notched 15.
Fairmont got off to a quick start as a Jolinder dunk would open the scoring and they took a 7-0 lead before junior Gbolahan Adio knocked down a three to get NDC on the board. After Jolinder hit a pair of free throws the second group of five for NDC went on a 5-0 run as senior Trent Williams hit a 3-pointer and redshirt sophomore Devin Haid made a layup to make it a 9-8 Fairmont lead with 16:28 until halftime. After the next four points went to Fairmont junior Trent Blackshire hit a 3-pointer and freshman Cameron Johnson made a layup to knot the game at 13 with 13:08 to go in the first half.
Richmond talked about the new five in five out strategy that he has put in this week and if it's something he may stick with:
"The new rotation has allowed us to play with more energy and passion for a longer period of time. Blackshire going down early (with an injury) changed the rotation a little bit. We do have some guys on the mend and for that reason those lineups will continue to evolve. We have to be smarter and more disciplined later in games."
After a layup by Seth Younkin NDC took the lead on a 3-pointer by Williams with 12:24 in the opening half. After a free throw by Jevontae Jones and a bucket by Jamarr Talbert put NDC on top 19-18. After a Tyheil Peterson 3-pointer NDC tied the game at 21 on a Jones layup with 7:21 in the first half. The next four points would go to Fairmont but NDC got four straight as Williams tied the game at 25 after a layup with 4:03 until halftime. Whiteside and Harris would trade layups as NDC would tie the game at 27. it would be 36-30 in favor of the Fighting Falcons heading into the locker room.
NDC was led by Williams with eight points in the first half while Talbert had five. NDC shot 34.3 percent from the field in the opening half, they shot 50 percent (5-10) from the 3-point line and 50 percent (1-2) from the free throw line. NDC had nine assists and seven turnovers in the opening stanza.
Fairmont was led by Jolinder with 16 in the opening stanza while Whiteside added six. Fairmont shot 45.2 percent from the floor, 30.8 percent (4-13) from the 3-point line and 80 percent (4-5) from the free throw line in the opening 20 minutes. They led the rebounding battle 23-18 in the opening half and had nine assists to go along with nine turnovers in the frame.
NDC got to within eight (44-36) as redshirt freshman Robbie Cass hit a three with 16:30 to go. The Fighting Falcons would stretch the lead to 15 (51-36) after a Tommy Williams 3-pointer with 14:55 to go. After Jolinder made two free throws the Fairmont lead was 17 (55-38) but NDC got a spark as Dames hit a pair of 3-pointer's and a layup after an offensive rebound of his own to get NDC to within nine (55-46) after a personal 8-0 run by Dames. Cass hit a jumper a couple minutes later and NDC was within nine (60-51) with 8:59 to go. The two teams traded buckets, Whiteside made a layup and a 3-pointer by Haid got NDC to within eight (64-56) at the 6:21 mark. Dames hit a layup and Harris hit the 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring as NDC was within three (64-61) with 4:21 on the clock. Dobbs hit a pair of free throws and Jolinder hit a three to stretch the lead back to eight. After Harris split a pair of free throws but Whiteside would put the game away with a pair of layups and two free throws. The Fighting Falcons would walk away with the 16 point win.
Richmond talked about Dames and Cass:
"Josh (Dames) continues to improve and Robbie (Cass) has played some big minutes for us this year. They both shoot it which helps us spread the floor. They continue to improve defensively and I like where both of these guys are at. They can catch and shoot which really helps our offense. They really help our floor spacing and I'm happy with these guys at the moment."
Dames hit three triples on his way to 13, he was joined in double figures by Harris with 10. NDC had 11 players score in the contest. They shot 35.9 percent from the floor, 44 percent (11-25) from the 3-point line, and 50 percent (6-12) from the free throw line. They had 14 assists and nine turnovers in this one.
Fairmont was paced by Whiteside who went 11-17 from the field on his way to 24 points, Jolinder was 7-10 from the floor, 3-3 from three and 6-6 at the free throw line to tally 23 points, while Tommy Williams knocked down three triples on his way to 15. Fairmont shot 50.9 percent from the field, 30.4 percent (7-23) from the 3-point line, and 84.2 percent (16-19) from the free throw line. The Fighting Falcons won the rebounding battle 42-30. They had 14 assists and 14 turnovers in the contest.
Richmond talked about the defensive miscues in this one:
"The plan was to switch a lot and keep guys in front of us with the size advantage Fairmont had. Whiteside probably shot 11 right handed layups. We gave them angles and they took advantage of that."
"Tough win against a solid team today. Cam, David, and Tommy were really big for us especially in the second half," Fairmont state head coach Tim Koenig said.
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Wheeling. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores:
Salem 85 Frostburg 70
Concord 94 Wheeling 88
West Virginia State 102 West Virginia Wesleyan 87
West Liberty 114 Glenville State 78
Charleston 73 Davis & Elkins 71
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 8-1 (13-3)
Charleston 8-1 (13--2)
Concord 6-3 (10-3)
West Virginia State 6-3 (10-5)
Davis & Elkins 5-4 (9-7)
Fairmont State 5-4 (12-4)
Glenville State 5-4 (9-7)
NDC 3-7 (7-8)
Wheeling 2-7 (5-10)
Frostburg State 2-7 (2-14)
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-9 (1-15)
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