The Notre Dame College Falcons continue to find ways to win basketball games. On Wednesday night at Murphy Gym they came away with a 86-75 win over Bryant and Stratton College of Buffalo to improve to 8-2 on the season. The Bobcats fell to 6-5 on the year. With the win NDC matched the 2008-09 squad for the best start in program history.
NDC junior Guard Jaedon Willis talked about that after this one:
" We are 8-2 but we could easily be 10-0,"Willis mentioned.
Head Coach Mark Richmond agreed:
" I am happy to be 8-2. We have not played our best yet but I am excited to see where this team can go,"Richmond explained.
NDC got off to a good start in this one as they led 18-7 seven minutes into the game after a DeArius Barker layup. Crawford had seven and Willis had five in the early going.
" It was a good start for us. It was all about energy and effort in this one,"Crawford said.
Richmond agreed:
"I thought we came out and played really well in the first 10-12 minutes. We really attacked inside out."
At the eight minute mark of the half NDC still had a double digit lead (30-19.) The Bobcats would pull to within two (34-32) after Kalon Kimble scored with 4:04 in the opening half. Denzel Fuller would give the Bobcats a 37-36 lead at the 2:55 mark before a DeAirius Barker 3-pointer put NDC back on top. NDC would get a spark from Richmond Heights product Jamarr Talbert to put the team up four (41-37.)
Richmond talked about that:
"Jamarr is a guy who suffered a minor injury early in the season. We saw what he could do in the preseason. I was happy to get him out there and see him produce tonight. We were really cautious with that injury of his.
Richmond also talked about the bigs (Mike Kirkland and Sam Jackson) who were instrumental in this win:
"Mike (Kirkland) is probably our best five offensively, Sam (Jackson) might be our best five on defense, and Daylin (Lee) does a little bit of everything.
The game was tied at 41 before NDC got a Sampson layup with seven seconds left in the half to take a 43-41 lead.
Richmond talked about that:
"Mike did a good job in the high post tonight. He had five or six assists. I wish he was a little more aggressive but he was pretty good tonight."
NDC had three players with nine points in the opening half (Crawford, Barker, and Willis.) Kirkland added eight off the bench. As a team NDC shot 55 percent in the first half, 38 percent (3-8) from the 3-point line, and made all six free throw attempts.
Bryant and Stratton was led by Eric Waters with 16 while Sam Dorrisaint had eight in the opening stanza. The Bobcats shot 57 percent from the field, 44 percent (4-9) from the 3-point line, and 38 percent (3-8) from the free throw line in the opening half.
Richmond talked about the end of the half:
"We kind of let up a little bit. We turned the ball over and stopped guarding.
After a John Godinez 3-pointer and a dunk by Crawford NDC had a seven point lead (48-41.) The next seven points went to the Bobcats to knot the game at 48. NDC would then score the next six and after a Willis 3-pointer with 15:02 to go the lead was 54-48. It was a three point game at the 10:46 mark when Willis knocked down another 3-pointer. After a Bobcats free throw NDC got a bucket from Gbolohan Adio and another Willis triple to make it 68-58. A Crawford 3-pointer at the 7:16 mark made it a 12 point lead (72-60.) Willis hit another 3-pointer to make it 75-60 with 6:50 to go and forced coach Damone Brown to take a timeout. After a mini run by the Bobcats Willis would hit his last 3-pointer of the night at the 4:35 mark that made it 78-65. After the Bobcats cut it to single digits a couple more times the Falcons would close this one out.
Richmond talked about his team missing something but being happy with the win:
"I am happy that we are 8-2 as we head down to Florida but I wish we would develop that killer instinct and put teams away."
The Falcons were led by Willis who went 8-16 from the floor and 6-11 from the 3-point line on his way to 26 points. He also had a pair of steals.
He talked about beating the Bobcats zone:
" I just needed to continue to shoot the ball. I was getting good shots the last two games, I was just not knocking them down. I feel like as a team we should be able to light up a zone. We just need to push the ball in transition at every chance we get."
Crawford had 14 points ,five assists, and three steals in the contest. He gave his thoughts:
" We have not seen much zone this season. I feel like I said before that it is about energy and effort. When we move the ball side to side we are tough to beat. As far as defensively I feel like the percentages were in our favor if we kept forcing them to shoot 3-pointer's and tough shots. "
Barker scored nine points, John Godinez joined Mike Kirkland with eight, and Mike Sampson stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, nine rebounds, and six assists as he was a perfect three of three from the floor. NDC shot 54 percent overall (32-59,) 50 percent (11-22) from the 3-point line, and 79 percent (11-14) from the free throw line. They won the rebounding battle 32-29, and had 20 assists to go with 13 turnovers.
Bryant and Stratton had five players score in double figures paced by the 18 points and eight rebounds that Eric Waters contributed. 16 of those 18 points came in the opening stanza. Dorrisaint had 14, RaeQuan Scott added 12, while both Devon Ware and Denzel Fuller contributed 11. The Bobcats shot 51 percent from the field, 35 percent (7-20) from the 3-point line, and 57 percent (8-14) from the free throw line. They only shot 45 percent from the field and 27 percent (3-11) from the 3-point line in the second half. They had 12 assists, and 15 turnovers in the contest.
NDC will be back in action Sunday when they head south to battle Florida Tech. Tip time at the Clemente Center is set for 7 PM.
Other MEC Scores:
Salem (West Va.) 97 Davis & Elkins 74
Frostburg State 64 University of the District of Columbia 63
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 5-1 (9-1)
NDC 5-1 (8-2)
Charleston 4-1 (7-2)
Fairmont State 4-2 (7-2)
Alderson Broaddus 3-3 (6-4)
Frostburg State 3-3 (5-7)
Glenville State 2-3 (4-4)
West Virginia State 2-3 (5-5)
Wheeling 2-3 (3-7)
Concord 2-4 (4-7)
Davis & Elkins 2-4 (3-7)
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-6 (1-10)
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