The Notre Dame College Falcons (9-7 6-4 MEC) look to get back on track when they take on Wheeling University (5-11 4-6 MEC) for the second time this season tomorrow (Wednesday.) NDC was a 69-67 winner over the Cardinals back on November 20th. You can catch all the action of Wednesday's contest on the Mountain East Digital Network at MountainEast.TV The game is scheduled to tip at 7:30 PM.
NDC freshman Guard Jamarr Talbert talked about the team getting back on track tomorrow:
" This is a good game for us to get back on track, "Talbert mentioned. "We hit a wall in our season the last few games. This is a good game for us though to get back on track. A good game for us to get some traction and get back to how we were playing at the beginning of the season."
Head Coach Mark Richmond gave his thoughts:
"Wheeling is playing really well of late, it has been impressive how they have been playing since the Christmas break, "Richmond said. "They played Fairmont and West Liberty tough, and dominated Frostburg State at Wheeling on Saturday. We were fortunate to get out of Wheeling with a win in the first meeting around Thanksgiving."
NDC is coming off a 73-64 loss to Charleston on Saturday that was the teams third straight defeat. Jaedon Willis led NDC with 21 points in the contest, Mike Sampson added 13, and DeArius Barker netted 11 in his first career start. The Falcons shot 46 percent from the field, 30 percent (7-24) from the 3-point line, and 61 percent (11-18) from the free throw line in the contest.
In the first meeting the Falcons beat Wheeling 71-69. Willis was one of four Falcons in double figures in that contest as he had a game high 24 points. The trio of Tyland Crawford, John Godinez, and Mike Kirkland each tallied 10 in that one. NDC shot 44 percent from the field, 36 percent (9-25) from the 3-point line, and 50 percent (4-8) at the free throw line. After that victory the Falcons were 3-0 on the season.
As a team NDC averages 79.4 points per game, which is sixth in the MEC. Richmond talked about his team on the offensive end:
" We just need to stay with it offensively. We hit a stretch where we didn't shoot the ball well for five or six minutes on Saturday. We need to make shots particularly when the other team is playing zone against us. I thought at first we did not execute as well. But it was just as simple as when we looked at the tape we executed and just missed some easy ones."
On the defensive end they are giving up an MEC fourth best 79.3 points per game. The Falcons are fifth in the MEC shooting at a 47 percent clip from the field, they are shooting an MEC second best 38 percent from the 3-point line and are sixth in the conference shooting 71 percent from the free throw line. On the glass NDC is being out rebounded by three (33.9-36.9) boards per game which is ninth in the MEC. Willis paces the team in scoring putting up an MEC fourth best 21.2 points per game. He also averages 2.7 assists a game, shoots an MEC third best 38 percent from the 3-point line, and still leads the conference making 3.2 3's per night. Crawford averages 12.1 points per game, while Mike Sampson continues to stuff the stat sheet. Sampson, the Houston native is putting up 10.5 points per game, grabbing an MEC fifth best 8.3 rebounds per contest, and leads the team in assists at 2.9 per night. Sampson is also eighth in the MEC getting 1.8 steals per contest. Sampson and Crawford are eighth and 10th in the MEC respectively in minutes played as well.
The Cardinals were a 97-80 winner over Frostburg at home on Saturday. Haines led the way with 27 points.
Jay Gentry added 21, Jordan Reid put up 14, John Korte netted 13, and Andrew Taylor tallied 12.
Talbert talked about the challenges Wheeling presents:
" They are a very talented team. They have hit there stride of late. This is a good game for us to stop the Wheeling streak and get one going ourselves."
Richmond agreed:
" Wheeling is a very unique group. They are led by Haines and Reid, but the complimentary pieces for them have been playing really well also."
They shot 57 percent from the field, 57 percent (12-21) from the 3-point line, and 75 percent (12-15) from the free throw line in the contest. In the first meeting with NDC back in November Haines and Reid each scored 20, Taylor netted 13, and Korte scored 10. The Cardinals shot 50 percent from the field,46 percent (7-17) from the 3-point line, and 80 percent (4-5) from the free throw line. As a team Wheeling scores an MEC 11th best 75.1 points per game, while they are sixth in the MEC giving up 79.8 points per night. They are eighth in the MEC shooting 45 percent from the field, and they are seventh in the MEC shooting 34 percent from the 3-point line. The Cardinals are the top free throw shooting team in the league shooting at a 78 percent clip from the foul line. On the glass the Cardinals are 10th in the MEC being out rebounded by 4.3 per contest (31.3-35.6.)
Haines paces Wheeling netting 18.5 points per game, while he leads the team in assists at 3.2 per contest. He is also 10th in the MEC in assist to turnover ratio and is second in the MEC getting 2.4 steals per game.
Richmond talked about Haines:
" Haines is as good as any guard in our league. We just have to be solid as a team, communicate, and we will be fine."
Reid averages 18 points and 5.5 assists per night. Richmond talked about him as well:
"He presents a very unique challenge for us. He is six foot two but may be the best back to the basket player in our league."
Korte also averages in double figures at 10 points per night. Richmond talked about Gentry:
"We need to find Gentry as he has been shooting the ball really well."
Richmond gave his final thoughts about this one:
" We will need to get key stops at key times which we have not done the last few games. To win a close game (which I expect this to be) we need to do difficult things at difficult times. We continue to work on that every day. We will need to execute on both ends and we will be totally fine."
Other MEC Games Wednesday:
West Liberty @ Alderson Broaddus
Charleston @ Concord
West Virginia Wesleyan @ Frostburg State
Davis& Elkins @ Fairmont State
West Virginia State @ Glenville State
MEC Standings:
Charleston 7-1 (11-2)
Fairmont State 8-2 (13-2)
West Liberty 8-2 (14-2)
West Virginia State 6-3 (11-5)
NDC 6-4 (9-7)
Alderson Broaddus 4-5 (7-6)
Concord 4-6 (6-9)
Wheeling 4-6 (5-11)
Glenville State 3-6 (6-7)
Davis & Elkins 3-6 (5-9)
Frostburg State 3-7 (5-11)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-9 (2-14)
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