The Notre Dame College Falcons (5-8) open a three game home stand to close the regular season, when they battle Fairmont State for the second time in five days. This time the contest will be at Murphy Gym. The game is slated to tip at 6 PM, and is a makeup game from a postponed contest just over a month ago. You can catch the action on the MountainEast.TV portal and the Live Stats in real time at NotreDameFalcons.com
Coach Mark Richmond gave his thoughts before tonight's contest:
" Our team is ready, and motivated for the final week of the regular season. Three straight home games are rare, so we have to take advantage of that opportunity. We played Fairmont five days ago, so they should be fresh in our minds,"Richmond explained.
NDC is coming off a 76-75 victory that completed a season sweep of Wheeling on Saturday. Mike Sampson led NDC with 19 points-and- 14 rebounds in the contest. Jordan Roland added 15 of his own, Tyland Crawford netted 13, while both Jordan Burton, and Elijah Barnett tallied 12. As a team NDC shot 49 percent in the contest- 36 percent (5-14) from the 3-point line- and- 87 percent (13-15) from the free throw line.
NDC comes into Monday''s game scoring a MEC ninth best 77.9 per game- while they allow a MEC fifth best 81.3 points per night. The Falcons continue to be a strong rebounding team, as they are grabbing 3.7 more rebounds than the opposition (37.8-34.1.) They are fourth in the conference shooting at a 47 percent clip from the field- and- second shooting 38 percent from the 3-point line.
Roland continues to lead the team in scoring (16.8 points per game-) and- assists (3.1 per night.8a) The 3.1 assists are good for ninth in the conference. Burton continues to top the MEC in 3-point shooting. The sophomore from Toledo is shooting 53 percent from the 3-point line, and is eighth in the MEC making 2.5 3-pointer's per night. Burton is also still in the top ten shooting 85 percent from the foul line. Crawford is scoring 12.8 points per game- and- grabbing 5.8 rebounds per contest. Mike Sampson continues to be a double-double machine, as he is averaging 10.5 points- and- a team leading- and- MEC third best 10.2 rebounds per night.
Fairmont (10-2) comes to South Euclid riding a six game win streak after a 79-78 win over Alderson Broaddus on Saturday. Isaiah Sanders led Fairmont with 25 points- Cole Von Handorf added 21- Dale Bonner netted 15- and- Zyon Dobbs contributed 10. Fairmont won that game after shooting 38 percent from the field- 24 percent (5-24) from the 3-point line- and- 80 percent (16-20) from the free throw line. As a team the Falcons are third in the MEC in points per game (89.8-) and- points allowed per contest (76.4.) Where Fairmont has thrived is in field goal percentage defense, where they are allowing the opponents to shoot just 41 percent from the field on the year. Another area that has been a strength for Fairmont is on the glass, where they are second behind West Liberty out rebounding the opponents by 5.6 boards per contest (43.8-38.2.)
Sanders paces the Fairmont box score pouring in a MEC 10th best 19.3 points per game. The junior from Sickerville, New Jersey is also grabbing 6.8 rebounds per night, which is good for ninth in the conference. The NDC transfer is also ninth in field goal percentage- shooting at a 51 percent clip. Dale Bonner is putting up 18.3 points per night. The sophomore from Shaker Heights is leading Fairmont, fourth in the MEC dishing out 5.1 assists per night- and- also is third in the MEC getting 2.2 steals per contest. Von Handorf (15.1 points per game-) and- Dobbs (11.9 per night) round out the double digit scorers. Seth Younkin leads Faimont averaging 8,5 rebounds per game, which is sixth in the MEC.
Richmond gave his final thoughts:
" We have to get off to a better start than we did at their place. We dug ourselves a huge hole that we could not get out of last week. They are the most talented team in our conference so we can't let them get going offensively if we want to have a chance to win."
In that contest on Wednesday Fairmont was a 94-84 winner. Sanders led them with 31 points, Dobbs added 21, Von Handorf had 17, and Bonner 15.
NDC was led that night by Marquise Johnson with 18. He was joined by Burton with 16, Roland, and Javontae Jones with 12, and Crawford netted 11.
Other MEC Games Monday:
West Liberty @ Davis & Elkins
Wheeling @ West Virginia State
Alderson Broaddus @ Frostburg State
MEC North Standings:
Fairmont State 10-2
West Liberty 10-3
Alderson Broaddus 6-6
NDC 5-8
Frostburg State 3-9
Wheeling 3-9
MEC South:
Charleston 12-2
Glenville State 7-2
West Virginia State 7-5
Concord 7-6
Davis & Elkins 3-8
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-13
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