The Notre Dame College Falcons had four players score in double figures and pulled away late in the second half for a 97-74 win over the Carlow Celtics at Oakland Catholic High School on Wednesday. With the victory the Falcons improved to 5-1 and 2-0 in the MEC. The loss dropped the Celtics to 1-8 on the season.
The Falcons were paced by Isaiah Sanders who had a season high 26 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds. Halil Parks and Drew Scarberry each scored 13- while Bruce Hodges added 12 to go with a seven rebounds. Hamish Warden led the Falcons with nine rebounds on the evening. The Falcons shot 44 percent from the field-30 percent (10-33) from the 3-point line- and- 79 percent (23-29) at the free throw line. They had 17 assists and turned it over 17 times.
Carlow was led by Tony Acrie who had 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds- while Swade Redman scored eight of his nine points in the first half. The Celtics shot 38 percent as a team- 29 percent (7-24) from the 3-point line- and- 53 percent (19-36) from the free throw line. Carlow won the rebounding battle 46-44. They had 17 assists and 24 turnovers as a team.
NDC jumped out to an 11-1 lead right out of the gate, but the Celtics had an answer. They would cut the lead to five (13-8.) NDC would then score the next six points to lead 19-8. Once again Carlow would fight back for much of the rest of the first half. They would get to within three (33-30) at the 1:38 mark. The Falcons would close the half on a 6-0 run though, as Larenz Thurman would knock down a 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer to make it a nine point lead (39-30.)
The Falcons got 13 points from Sanders in the opening half, while Hamish Warden had six. They shot 41 percent as a team in the opening 20 minutes, including 25 percent (4-16) from the 3-point line. NDC shot 82 percent (9-11) at the free throw line in the first half.
Carlow was led by Redman with eight points in the opening stanza- Acrie had seven- and- Ryan Jackson had six in the first half. The Celtics shot 39 percent as a team- 33 percent (3-9) from the 3-point line- and- 50 percent (3-6) from the free throw line.
Bruce Hodges talked about the flow of the game:
" We got off to a really good start then they hit some shots. We were missing our two bigs (Will Vorhees and Angelo Cugini out with injuries) and they took advantage of it!
Drew Scarberry agreed:
"We got off to the quick start and then they smacked us in the mouth. It was a good experience for us. We can never take any game lightly. We need to come into every game like it is our last."
The Falcons used full court pressure and some easy buckets in the first four minutes of the second half to open up a 20 point lead (52-32.) They would lead by as many as 26 and go on to the 97-74 win.
Scarberry talked about a much better second half:
" We did a good job of coming back in the second half and hitting our stride."
Hodges agreed:
" We came out in the second half on a mission to go right at them offensively and defensively, and got the job done. As I said last time we spoke the goal was to go 1-0 on the day and to get everyone into the game and we did that."
Parks talked about the lesson the Falcons learned as a team tonight:
" Our opponents let us know that they were not going to give anything to us easy. Tonight's game was a game all of us learned from, being that we can't take anyone lightly. We didn't come out in that first half prepared, but we talked it over at halftime, and executed our offense better than in the first half. As for rebounding, they were a bit undersized compared to us so we had to use that as an advantage against them by boxing them out and making it easier to grab rebounds. Overall I am glad we got the win."
Sanders gave his thoughts:
" It was a good win. Carlow did a great job on the boards and getting in the passing lanes especially in the first half. Our height, talent and athleticism out did there performance. We have to keep getting better every game. I am happy everyone got to play because they all deserve it. I'm happy we were able to get this win and get everyone in."
Coach Tim Koenig gave his thoughts:
"It was a great team win. We got contributions from everyone on the roster. Zay (Sanders) was great and Bruce gave us a huge lift."
NDC is now off for the rest of the Thanksgiving week. They will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Wheeling Jesuit. Tip time Wednesday is set for 7:30 PM. As always you can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com
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