Tyland Crawford tied a season high with 18 points while Obinna Ugwuakazi set a new career high with 17 and tied a career high pulling down 16 rebounds for the second consecutive game but it was not enough as Notre Dame College fell to West Virginia State 86-78 at the Walker Convocation Center on Saturday. With the loss NDC falls to 16-10 and 12-8 in the MEC. The Yellow Jackets improve to 18-8 and 12-8 in the MEC as they beat NDC for the second time this season.
It was senior day at West Virginia State and the Yellow Jackets came out ready to play in this one. They jumped out to a 7-0 lead after a Taeveon Horton 3-pointer just 47 seconds into this one. Jaedon Willis would get NDC on the board with a jumper and a 3-pointer by Jamarr Talbert would cut the lead to two (7-5.) NDC would knot the game at 12 as Ugwuakazi hit a 3-pointer and then a Crawford basket at the 15:36 mark of the opening half after a DeAirius Barker steal tied the game. After a layup by Ibn Loyal put WVSU on top a pair of free throws by Jaedon Willis tied the game at 14. WVSU would open up a seven point lead (23-16) after a Horton jumper with 11:32 in the opening half. After Whitaker knocked down a 3-pointer at the 9:28 mark the Yellow Jackets lead was 11 (31-20.) Bunky Brown would convert an old fashioned three-point play and the lead would be stretched to 14 (34-20.) NDC would make a mini run a couple minutes later as Ugwuakazi hit a pair of free throws and Willis made a layup and was fouled. He converted the free throw to cut the Yellow Jackets lead to five (36-31) at the 4:20 mark of the half. Crawford buried a triple and NDC was within two (36-34) 50 seconds later. WVSU would close the half on a 7-0 run and take a 43-34 lead into halftime.
Crawford led the Falcons with 11 points in the first half, while Ugwuakazi and Willis each notched seven. The Falcons shot 39 percent in the opening stanza, 38 percent (3-8) from the 3-point line, and 71 percent (5-7) from the free throw line. NDC led on the boards 21-14 in the first 20 minutes. They had one assist and seven turnovers in the stanza.
Whitaker led the Yellow Jackets with 14 in the half while Horton tallied nine. WVSU shot 59 percent in the first half, they shot 55 percent (6-11) from the 3-point line, and 50 percent (3-6) from the free throw line. They had eight assists and five turnovers in the half.
WVSU led by double digits until Barker converted a three-point play at the 16:52 mark. An Ugwuakazi layup cut it to seven and then a 3-pointer by Kinsler made it a 10 point game. The lead was 14 until a Gbolahan Adio 3-pointer and an Ugwuakazi hoop off of a steal at the 13:24 mark made it 56-47. The deficit for NDC would swell to 22 (79-57) at the 5:58 mark. NDC would not go away though. Daylin Lee would hit a 3-pointer and then score and get fouled. He converted the free throw to make it a 16 point game (79-63) The Falcons would again get the lead to single digits as Ugwuakazi made two free throws at the 1:47 mark to cut the lead to 81-72. After Lee made a pair of free throws and Ugwuakazi converted a layup the Falcons were within five (81-76) at the 1:04 mark. That is as close as NDC would get as the Yellow Jackets came away with the 86-78 win.
"Give credit to West Virginia State, "NDC head coach Mark Richmond said. "I thought they controlled the game today. We weren't able to get enough stops in key situations. We never found a stretch where we could get over the hump and get it back to a couple possession game."
Joining Crawford and Ugwuakazi in double figures were Willis (12 points,) Barker (11 points,) and Lee (10 points.) Willis went 3-4 at the free throw line as he saw a streak of 48 consecutive free throws made snapped in the final seconds. NDC shot 42 percent from the field in the contest, 33 percent (6-18) from the 3-point line, and 67 percent (12-18) from the free throw line. NDC won the rebounding battle 41-34. They had four assists and 12 turnovers in the contest.
"Nothing really to be said tonight that we don't already know, "Ugwuakazi mentioned. "As a team we need to stop deciding when to turn it on. It hurts when we come out flat then decide to compete when our opponent already jumped on top of us. WE WILL SEE THAT TEAM AGAIN!"
Crawford agreed:
"Obi said it all. Dug ourselves a hole and didn't have enough time to dig ourselves back out. We'll see them again."
WVSU was paced by Kinsler with 22, Whitaker added 18, Loyal notched a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Horton scored 11. The Yellow Jackets shot 55 percent from the field, 44 percent (11-25) from the 3-point line, and 62 percent (13-21) at the free throw line. They had 16 assists and 15 turnovers in the contest.
NDC will be back in action as they will return to South Euclid for the home finale on Wednesday against #11 West Liberty. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
West Liberty 119 Fairmont State 113 (OT)
Wheeling 92 Frostburg State 81
Glenville State 84 West Virginia Wesleyan 67
Davis & Elkins 84 Concord 83
Charleston 99 Alderson Broaddus 70
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 18-2 (23-3)
Fairmont State 15-5 (20-6)
Charleston 15-5 (18-8)
West Virginia State 12-8 (18-8)
NDC 12-8 (16-10)
Glenville State 11-9 (15-11)
Davis & Elkins 10-10 (16-10)
Concord 10-10 (14-12)
Alderson Broaddus 7-13 (9-16)
Wheeling 4-16 (6-20)
Frostburg State 4-16 (8-18)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-18 (2-23)
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