The Notre Dame College Falcons got a solid team effort and came away with a 95-84 win over the West Virginia State Yellow Jackets at Murphy Gym on Wednesday night. With the win the Falcons improve to 7-2 and 4-1 in the MEC. After the defeat the Yellow Jackets drop to 2-6 and 1-4 in the MEC.
The Falcons were led by a pair of double-doubles on the night. Larenz Thurman led the way with 23 points and 10 assists- while Will Vorhees added 22 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Drew Scarberry knocked down four 3-pointer's on his way to 14 points- while Bruce Hodges was a perfect three for three from the 3-point line for his 11 points. Angelo Cugini and Isaiah Sanders also scored in double figures with 10 points each.
The Falcons shot 49 percent from the floor- 47 percent (15-32) from the 3-point line- and- 86 percent (18-21) from the free throw line. The Falcons won the rebounding battle 34-32. They had 15 assists and eight turnovers as a team.
West Virginia State was led by 31 points from Pat Johnson-Agwu- while Glen Abram added 21. The Yellow Jackets shot 51 percent from the floor- 50 percent (11-22) from the 3-point line- and- 71 percent (17-24) from the free throw line. West Virginia State had eight assists and 12 turnovers as a team.
Coach Tim Koenig talked about the victory:
" It was a great team win. We got contributions up and down the roster tonight. We had some guys really come up big tonight, I spoke to Isaiah before the game and said you are not going to have two tough nights in a row and he was big for us tonight. All the credit goes to him. Scarberry has put in a ton of work on his shot and has not seen the results he's wanted this year. But he was really good tonight. Bruce has not had the opportunity to shoot the ball much this year but he got his chance tonight and was really good. Bruce was also really good on defense. Abram was a superstar for them in the first half. Then we put Bruce on him in the second half and he did a really good job. Hamish Warden was another guy i'd like to put in there tonight. He was really good on defense and kept the bench in the game. Hamish did the things that do not show up on the stat sheet tonight."
Will Vorhees talked about getting a win at home:
" It was a great team win tonight. Nice to grab our first one at home for the year. We gotta use this as momentum for Saturday's game."
Cugini agreed:
" It was a great team win. Felt great to get it on our home court. Very impressed with how we handled the West Virginia State run with a run of our own."
Koenig talked about what a luxury it is to have two closers like Thurman and Vorhees:
" A wise man named Coach Baab once told me you get the ball to your best players and get out of the way. I am getting wiser and have been getting the ball to Larenz and Will. Everyone in the stands thinks its a good idea and I know it's a good idea."
Hodges agreed with Koenig:
" These guys are amazing night in and night out. Renz was great at the point tonight. He hit open shots and took care of the ball. Will is the best player in the nation. He gets hacked all the time and makes free throws. Larenz had that huge fast break 3-pointer to break the West Virginia State run."
Cugini spoke about what Hodges means to his teammates:
" Bruce is the juice we need. He is the one that gets on the floor and hustles hard. He is someone you always want on your team."
Thurman agreed as well:
" Bruce's effort was what we needed tonight. He came in the game and hit some big shots, and was the lockdown defender he always is on the defensive end.
On the guys working there tails off, Thurman said this about his job:
" It makes my job 100 times easier. I don't hesitate to pass any of the guys the ball when they're open because everyone on the team is capable of hitting open shots. That comes from the hard work they put in everyday."
It would be West Virginia State that would jump out to the 12-7 lead in the early going. After a pair of Scarberry 3-pointer's NDC would take the lead 17-15 at the 11:15 mark of the opening half. After the Yellow Jackets would briefly knot the game at 17 NDC would get a pair of Scarberry free throws before a 3-pointer by Abram gave the Yellow Jackets a 20-19 lead. Hodges would knock down a pair of 3-pointer's and Thurman would hit one of his own to give the Falcons a 29-22 lead at the 7:16 mark of the first half. The Falcons would have a nine point lead (40-31) after Cugini would knock down a 3-pointer with 4:40 in the half. The Falcons would take a seven point (48-41) halftime lead.
Thurman would lead the Falcons with 12 points in the opening 20 minutes- Vorhees added nine points and seven rebounds- while Scarberry scored eight. The Falcons shot 47 percent in the first half- 45 percent (9-20) from the 3-point line. They shot at a 88 percent clip (7-8) at the free throw line. NDC had eight assists and just two turnovers in the opening half.
The Yellow Jackets were led by Johnson-Agwu with 14 points- while Abram had 13. They shot 50 percent from the field- 45 percent from the 3-point line in the opening half. They shot 80 percent at the free throw line. They had four assists and five turnovers as a team.
The Yellow Jackets pulled to within three (50-47) with just under 18 minutes to go after a Johnson-Agwu free throw. The Falcons would then run off the next nine points after a Sanders dunk on a breakaway at the 16:40 mark.
Hodges talked about the dunk by Sanders and what it did for the team:
" Zay had a big game tonight. That windmill dunk really got us going and brought West Virginia State down. I told you Zay was going to have a big game and he did."
NDC would stretch the lead to 16 (75-59) after another Scarberry 3-ball with 8:45 to go. The Yellow Jackets would then go on a 8-0 run to get it to an eight point game (75-67) with 7:15 to go. Hodges would hit another 3-pointer, his third of the night to get the lead back to double digits. The Yellow Jackets would go on a 5-0 spurt that got them to within six (78-72) after a Johnson-Agwu layup at the 5:53 mark. That would be as close as West Virginia State would get as the Falcons would close this one out at the free throw line.
Koenig talked about the win and the unusual numbers:
" I just saw this and did not know this until we started this interview. West Virginia State shot 50 percent plus from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line and we won by double digits." The 3-point line has been our Achilles heel all year but we shot the 3-ball very well tonight."
NDC will be back in action Saturday when they head to Charleston. Tip off on Saturday is set for 4 PM.
Other MEC Scores:
Concord 101 Glenville State 97
Fairmont State 95 Wheeling Jesuit 80
West Liberty 96 Shepherd 94
West Virginia Wesleyan 81 Virginia Wise 69
Charleston 81 Urbana 79
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 5-0 (7-1)
Fairmont State 5-0 (7-2)
NDC 4-1 (7-2)
Concord 4-1 (6-2)
Charleston 2-3 (6-3)
Glenville State 2-3 (5-3)
Shepherd 2-3 (5-3)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-3 (4-4)
Virginia Wise 2-3 (4-5)
Urbana 1-4 (2-6)
Wheeling Jesuit 0-5 (0-8)
コメント