The Notre Dame College Falcons knew they were going to be tested on Saturday with one of the hottest teams in the country, The West Virginia State Yellow Jackets coming to town and NDC dug themselves a 21-2 hole they could not dig themselves out of as they suffered a 95-77 defeat that was just the third home loss for the Falcons on the season. With the loss NDC falls to 15-11 and 12-8 in the MEC. WVSU picked up their 16th win in the last 17 games to improve to 21-6 and 16-4 in the MEC.
NDC head coach Mark Richmond had this to say postgame:
"We dug ourselves a deep hole and were not ready to play, "Richmond explained. We played pretty well on the road and expanded a lot of energy at Charleston on Wednesday. I don't have a lot of answers as to why we came out the way we did but that is what happened. I tried to explain to these guys for the last three days that West Virginia State is playing for an NCAA bid and they needed this win to improve a pretty good resume."
Glen Abram hit a 3-pointer, Noah Jordan scored a basket, and another 3-pointer this time by Anthony Pittman gave West Virginia State a 8-0 lead. NDC would get on the board on a John Godinez jumper but the Yellow Jackets would then score the next 13 points capped off by a pair of Jeremiah Moore free throws at the 15:31 mark that made it 21-2 WVSU.
Richmond had this to add about the start:
"It was uncharacteristic for us." They jumped out to an early lead and I thought we played them ok after that but we just dug way to big of a hole."
NDC got to within 11 (23-12) after Obinna Ugwauakazi and Willis scored at the 10:48 mark of the half. The next six points would go the way of the Yellow Jackets to stretch the lead back to 17 (29-12. The Falcons would pull to within 10 (35-25) on a Godinez jumper at the 5:14 mark of the half. The next five points would go to the Yellow Jackets before a Willis three-point play made it 40-28 with 4:01 in the opening stanza. WVSU would stretch the lead to 21 (53-32) at the break, which would be the largest lead of the game.
Willis led NDC with 13 in the opening stanza while Godinez added six. NDC shot 37 percent in the opening stanza, went 0 of 7 from the 3-point line, and 77 percent (10-13) at the free throw line.
WVSU was paced by Dwaine Jones who had 13 in the opening half while Noah Jordan added nine. They shot 54 percent from the field, 40 percent (6-15) from the 3-point line, and 70 percent (7-10) at the free throw line. NDC got five quick points from Willis to begin the second half but WVSU would match the largest lead of the game at 21 (62-41) after a Moore hoop with just under 17 minutes left. NDC would then go on a 8-0 run to pull within 13 (62-49) after a Mike Sampson layup with 14:53 to go. A Willis 3-pointer at the 13:47 mark cut the lead to 10 (64-54.) After the lead was stretched out to 15 again NDC would get to within single digits (72-63) on a Tyland Crawford layup with 9:54 on the clock.
Richmond talked about not getting over the hump:
"We would get to within nine or 10 points and just couldn't make that one more play to get it down to four or six and we expended a lot of energy getting to that point."
A 7-0 run by WVSU capped by a Jenkins 3-pointer stretched the lead to 16 (79-63.) West Virginia State would cruise to victory from there.
NDC had a pair of double figure scorers on the day as Willis netted 27 and Crawford added 17. NDC shot 44 percent from the floor, 17 percent (3-18) from the 3-point line, and 82 percent (18-22) at the free throw line. They had 10 assists and 13 turnovers in the game.
The Yellow Jackets were paced by Jones who had 20 points, seven assists, and six rebounds. Other players in double figures were Moore (18,) Abram 13 to go along with 10 assists and seven rebounds, Jordan 12, while Pittman and Jenkins each had 10. Pittman also had a team high 12 rebounds.WVSU shot 49 percent from the field, 32 percent (8-25) from the 3-point line, and 77 percent (13-17) at the free throw line. The Yellow Jackets won the rebounding battle 42-37. They had 27 assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to West Liberty to take on the second ranked Hilltoppers. Tip time is slated for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores:
Charleston 86 Alderson Broaddus 73
Glenville State 79 West Virginia Wesleyan 69
Concord 88 Davis & Elkins 78
West Liberty 110 Fairmont State 107 (OT)
Frostburg State 90 Wheeling 72
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 18-2 (24-2)
West Virginia State 16-4 (21-6)
Charleston 16-4 (21-5)
Fairmont State 15-5 (20-5)
NDC 12-8 (15-11)
Concord 10-10 (13-13)
Glenville State 8-12 (11-13)
Alderson Broaddus 8-12 (11-14)
Wheeling 7-13 (8-18)
Frostburg State 5-15 (7-19)
Davis & Elkins 4-16 (6-20)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-19 (2-24)
Atlantic Region Rankings (Updated Wednesday:)
Indiana (PA)
West Liberty
Fairmont State
Pitt-Johnstown
Cal (PA)
MercyHurst
Millersville
West Virginia State
Shippensburg
Virginia Union
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