The third seeded Notre Dame College Falcons (20-8 16-6 MEC) open up play in the 2019 MEC Tournament when they take on the sixth seeded West Virginia State Yellow Jackets (12-16 9-13 MEC) in the opening round. The game is slated to tip at 2:15 PM on Friday and you can catch all the action on Mountaineast.org
MEC Coach Of The Year Tim Koenig talked about the challenge ahead:
" West Virginia State is a very good team. They have plenty of players even with the changes in personnel since the last time we played them. They played more in the post when Pat (Johnson-Agwu) was still on the team. Jenkins and Stone are both really good players. Isaiah Noel has scored more since he is getting more touches. Abrom went off in the first half against us at our place. One thing that I have learned about West Virginia State in the six years that I have been here though is that no matter what you think they are going to do they do the opposite. They have some stuff they have not run in a long time. They may break that out again Friday." Koenig said.
Koenig added about his team:
" We will control what we can control. We will worry about what we do. Obviously with this being a tournament there will be jitters and we expect that. We will do whatever we can as a coaching staff to put the top guys out there for as many minutes as we can. We gave Dan Lott a look last game at crunch time. We also went to Cole Hayes in crunch time of that last meeting when Will and Bruce fouled out."
On what needs to improve from previous meeting's:
" We have to be better in transition and on the glass. Those are the two things that really hurt us against these guys this season.
Isaiah Sanders spoke about what he expects going into his first MEC Tournament:
" I'm not worried about last game or any game this year that has already been played. When the tournament comes it is a new ballgame. Every team gets a fresh start and every team is hungry. My personal mindset going into the tournament is to play every play for my brothers. Especially the senior's because I know how bad they want this. My goal is to play for my brothers every play every game one play and one game at a time."
On what he expects from his team Koenig said:
" Expecting the team to defend at a high level. That as well as executing as a whole- and- as I mentioned before hitting the glass is a big one against this team.
The Falcons secured the third seed after a 89-70 win on Saturday at Urbana that gave them the first 20-win regular season in program history. Will Vorhees led the way with 38 points to go along with 12 rebounds, and five assists. The MEC Player Of The Year from Lima also had a pair of steals as well as a pair of blocked shots.Fellow First Team All-MEC Selection Larenz Thurman scored 18 points- and- Isaiah Sanders added 11 in the victory for a Falcons team that won seven of 10 to end the regular season. NDC shot 49 percent from the field- and- 25 percent (6-24) from the 3-point line in the contest. They shot at a 70 percent clip (21-30) from the free throw line. The Falcons come into the tournament averaging a MEC fourth best 87.4 points per game on the offensive end. While defensively they allow a league fifth best 79.4 points per contest. NDC is third in the MEC shooting at a 77 percent clip from the free throw line. They are the top defensive team in the conference when it comes to opponents field goal percentage, as the opposition is shooting 44 percent on the year. The Falcons get to the free throw line 16.8 times per contest as a team which is 3.6 more attempts per game than the opponents 13.2 per night. The Falcons have been solid on the glass, as they are averaging more than five rebounds (39.9-34.7) more than the opposition per game. Bruce Hodges is second, while Thurman is sixth in the conference when it comes to assist to turnover ratio for the season. NDC is averaging 1.6 more assists than the opposition per night (15.5-13.9.) They are also average more than a block per game more (3.2-1.9) than the opposition.
Vorhees leads the season box score as he has all season long pouring in a team leading and MEC second best 28.9 points per game. That number is just .1 points per game less than MEC leading scorer Tommy Bolte of Concord. Vorhees has scored at least 30 points in each of the past 10 NDC contest's. Vorhees also is the top rebounder in the MEC as he is grabbing 11.3 rebounds per night. He is also 14th in the MEC in free throw percentage shooting at a 79 percent clip from the line. Thurman come into the tournament averaging 17.8 points per game. He is also second in the conference in assists dishing out five assists per game. The junior from Wilmington, DE is seventh in the MEC in 3-pointer's made per game (3.2.) He is 12th in the conference in free throw shooting, aas he shoots 81 percent at the line. Sanders has had a solid freshman season, as he has contributed 11.9 points per night and is ninth in the conference shooting at a 84 percent clip from the free throw line. Drew Scarberry got hot late in the season and is also scoring in double figures putting up 10.3 points per game. He is 9th in the MEC in 3-pointer's made on the year at 2.9 per night. Hodges is 10th in the MEC in assists at 3.3 per game, and seventh in the conference in steals at 1.7 per contest.
West Virginia State (12-16 9-13 MEC) is the sixth seed by virtue of the tiebreaker over Shepherd. The tiebreaker came down to the two teams records against teams above them. With both teams losing to West Liberty and Fairmont State the next tiebreaker was the record against NDC. The Yellow Jackets won the tiebreaker based off of there 108-106 win over NDC at home. The Yellow Jackets come into the tournament on a six game losing skid. Last time out WVSU was a 86-68 loser to Charleston on Saturday. Isaiah Noel scored 23 points, while Gus Stone had 21. Frank Aymegang had 10 in a losing effort. WVSU shot 45 percent from the field- 39 percent from the 3-point line (7-18) in the loss. They shot at a 88 percent clip (7-8) from the free throw line as well. The Yellow Jackets are just 3-9 away from home on the season. They average a league sixth best 86.2 points per contest, while they allowed a league 10th best 88.5 points per contest. They are 9th in the MEC shooting at a 70 percent clip from the line. The Yellow Jackets have struggled on the boards where they are being out-rebounded by two per game (38.5-36.5-) but they lead the conference in blocked shots getting 4.6 per game.
Individually Stone leads WVSU averaging 16.3 points per game. Ernest Jenkins is second on the team averaging 11.2 points per night. He is shooting a league third best 45 percent from the 3-point line on the year. Jenkins is 10th in the league in blocks at 1.3 per game- and- a league sixth best 1.8 steals per game.
The winner will meet the winner of the Fairmont State versus Shepherd game Saturday at 8:15 PM.
Other MEC Tournament Games:
Wed:
(7) Shepherd 71 Virginia Wise 66
((9) Wheeling Jesuit 66 (8 )West Virginia Wesleyan 48
Friday:
(2) Fairmont State vs (7) Shepherd - Noon
(3) NDC vs (6) West Virginia State- 2:15 PM
(1) West Liberty vs (9) Wheeling Jesuit- 6 PM
(4) Charleston vs 5 Concord 8:15
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