The Notre Dame College Falcons are set to battle the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bobcats Saturday at Murphy Gym. Tip time is slated for 4 PM. You can catch all the action on MountainEast.TV
The Falcons come in with a record of 4-4 and 3-2 inside the Mountain East Conference while the Bobcats come in with a 1-7 record and 1-4 in the MEC.
"We need to start fast and play fast. We have to set the tempo early versus them and we will get the result we desire, "NDC guard Jaedon Willis explained.
Head Coach Mark Richmond gave his thoughts:
"We are looking forward to being back home Saturday. We like to keep teams like Wesleyan off balance by changing defenses. The 1-3-1 has always been a good thing for us to go to."
Gbolahan Adio talked about building off the win on Wednesday:
"We got a good win on the road (at Davis &Elkins) on Wednesday. We need to use that to carry momentum into a win streak. We just need to continue to play as a team on both ends as well as be the aggressor coming into the game,"
The Falcons are coming off a 74-63 win over Davis&Elkins that was the team's first road win of the campaign. Andre Harris tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds, Daylin Lee notched 18, while both Wilis and Adio chipped in 10 in the victory. NDC shot 42.4 percent from the field, 24 percent (6-25) from the 3-point line, and 63.2 percent (12-19) from the free throw line. NDC finished Wednesday's contest with an 11-0 burst in the final 2:07.
Richmond talked about a multitude of things:
"Obviously our guys need to play at a high level for us to win. Those guys did a great job defensively in the game Wednesday. They scratched and clawed and probably did not shoot the ball as well as they had hoped. They are still big pieces to what we are doing though. That is what we are going for. You are not going to shoot the ball great every night. You still have to find ways to win. Both those guys (Willis and DeAirius Barker) help us do that.
NDC comes into Saturday fifth in the conference scoring 81.5 points per game while they are seventh on the defensive end giving up 80.9 points per night. They shoot 45 percent from the field which is eighth in the conference, while they are third in the league as the opponents shoot 42.8 percent from the floor. The Falcons are third in the MEC shooting 37.7 percent from the 3-point line but they are holding the opposition to shooting at a 30.7 percent clip from distance which is second in the MEC. At the free throw line NDC is third in the conference shooting at a 73.3 percent clip. On the glass the Falcons are eighth in the conference being out-rebounded by 1.4 (38.0-39.4) boards per game.
Richmond talked about the importance of that on Saturday:
"We just watched some tape of the win that Wesleyan had over Wheeling in overtime last week and their best offense was getting second chances. We will have to do a good job on the glass versus them."
Willis continues to lead the Falcons and is now second in the MEC scoring 21.1 points per game as he shoots 42.2 percent from the field, and 36 percent from the 3-point line. The Baltimore native also leads the team with 23 assists in eight contests. He is joined in double figures by his backcourt mate, Barker, who nets 10.3 points per contest. Harris leads the team on the glass grabbing 5.4 rebounds per night.
The Bobcats are coming off a 78-62 loss to Alderson Broaddus last time out. D'Vante Rivera led the way with 17 points, Darius Green scored 13, and Curtis Litton tallied 10. WVWC shot 44 percent in the loss, 21.4 percent (3-14) from the 3-point line, and 75 percent (3-4) at the free throw line. The Bobcats are at the bottom of the conference scoring 63.5 points per game as well as giving up 86.5 points per night, They shoot 38.9 percent which is also at the bottom of the MEC. They shoot an MEC eighth best 69.8 percent from the free throw line and are 10th in the MEC shooting at 30.3 percent from 3-point land.
Darius Green leads the team in scoring at 15.7 points per game and also has a team leading 19 assists in seven games.
Richmond talked about him:
"Green is playing really well. He can do a little bit of everything. He is a good passer and a good defender. Then Richmond talked about Tyler Sloane who scores 13.6 points and grabs six rebounds per game:
"He is shooting the ball really well at 45 or 46 percent from the 3-point line. He is a guy we will have to find in transition and know where he is at all times. He rebounds it at a high level too."
Anthony Craven also averages double figures at 11.7 points per contest. Richmond gave his thoughts on him:
"Craven is also a guy who can do a little bit of everything. All three of those guys are really good players. They also have a couple of younger guys who they are bringing along. and have a chance to be good."
Richmond talked about attacking the zone of the Bobcats and winning in different ways:
"We need to attack their zone by being patient and taking good shots. As I have been saying all season the best part of this team is we can win in mutidtude of ways. We are still finding out what some of those ways are but for the most part I have liked how these guys have been competing. We got some big stops late in the game on Wednesday and then we kept staying with it. Some of those shots finally started to fall late. Like I said earlier the guys will be ready and look forward to being back at home Saturday."
Other MEC Games Saturday:
Charleston @ Wheeling
Concord @ Frostburg State
Glenville State @ Fairmont State
Davis & Elkins @ Alderson Broaddus
West Virginia State @ West Liberty
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 5-0 (8-0)
West Virginia State 5-0 (8-0)
Fairmont State 3-2 (5-2)
Concord 3-2 (6-3)
NDC 3-2 (4-4)
Charleston 3-2 (4-5)
Davis & Elkins 2-3 (6-3)
Glenville State 2-3 (5-4)
Alderson Broaddus 2-3 (2-6)
Frostburg State 1-4 (3-6)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-4 (1-7)
Wheeling 0-5 (1-7)
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