The Notre Dame College Falcons (13-11 8-10 MEC) travel to Fairmont, West Va. to take on the Fairmont State University Fighting Falcons (18-7 10-7 MEC) at Joe Rhetton Arena. You can catch all the action on MountainEast.TV with tip time scheduled for 4 PM tomorrow (Saturday 2/23.)
"We gotta play 40 minutes of basketball, share it and defend at a high level. We can not beat ourselves by giving them the ball," NDC junior guard Josh Dames explained.
NDC is coming off a 93-76 win on Wednesday night over Frostburg State which was the Falcons first win at home since 12/30/23. Devin Haid continued his torrid pace of late with 26 points, RJ Ogom added 18 points and 11 rebounds, Trent Williams chipped in 14, and Josh Dames tallied 11 points to go along with 11 rebounds. The Falcons shot 46.2 percent from the field, 46.7 percent (14-30) from the 3-point line, and 73.1 percent (19-26) from the free throw line. NDC is up to fourth in the MEC scoring 83 points per game after back to back games with 90+points, they shoot an MEC seventh best 44.8 percent from the field, and an MEC sixth best 35.1 percent from long distance. NDC also shoots at a 70.1 percent clip at the free throw line. They are seventh in turnover margin, fifth in assist to turnover ratio, while they are third in assists per game (15.2.) At the defensive end they give up an MEC seventh best 82.7 points per night, are also seventh in field goal percentage against (44 percent) while they are fifth at guarding the 3-point line (32.9 percent.) NDC is being out rebounded by 0.1 (38-9-39.0) rebounds per game which is seventh in the MEC, and block 4.29 shots per game which is third in the MEC and 26th in the country. Haid is eighth in the MEC putting up 15.5 points per game, shoots an MEC third best 49.2 percent from the field, is sixth in the free throw percentage in the conference (84 percent,) dishes out 2.5 assists per game, while he blocks one shot game and gets 1.4 steals per contest which are both tied for ninth in the MEC. Andre Harris puts up 12.6 points per game and pulls down an MEC fifth best 6.8 rebounds per night, Ogom tallies 10.8 points per game and is shooting better than 84 percent from the free throw line (fifth in the MEC.) Gbolahan Adio leads the team in assists at 2.6 per contest. In the first meeting with Fairmont back in January ( a 79-63 loss) Dames scored 13 and Harris netted 10.
The Fighting Falcons are coming off a 79-55 win over Salem last time out. Zyon Dobbs led FSU with 16 points, Jaidyn West added 14, David Jolinder and Tommy Williams each netted 12, while Cameron Whiteside rounded out the double figure scorers with 10. As a team Fairmont shot 44.4 percent from the field, 44.1 percent (15-34) from the 3-point line, and 80 percent (8-10) from the free throw line. As a team the Fighting Falcons score an MEC seventh best 81.7 points per game, shoot an MEC fifth best 45.8 percent from the field, and 35.2 percent from the 3-point line which is also fifth in the conference. FSU shoots 72.2 percent from the free throw line which is seventh in the MEC, are second in turnover margin, third in assist to turnover ratio, and fifth in the conference dishing out 14.8 assists per night. FSU has been very stingy on the defensive end. They are second in points allowed per game (73.2 per game,) third in field goal percentage against (43.1,) while they have struggled guarding the 3-point line 32.3 percent (10th in the MEC.) FSU has as many rebounds as they have allowed (36.8-36.8) which is sixth in the conference, while they block an MEC seventh best 3.1 shots per night. Jolinder leads the team and is fifth in the MEC scoring 16.7 points per game while he grabs 5.9 rebounds per night. Dobbs puts up 16.1 per night which is seventh in the MEC while he shoots an MEC sixth best 46.6 percent from the field. Whiteside scores 13.8 per contest which is 10th in the MEC while he is eighth in the conference in assists per game (3.4.) He is tied for ninth in steals per game (1.4) Williams gets 13.3 per night, shoots an MEC second best 37.6 percent from the 3-point line and is second in three point makes per contest (2.8) He is also getting an MEC fourth best 1.4 steals per night. Younkin leads the conference in rebounding (7.8 per night) as well. In the first meeting in South Euclid Whiteside had 24, Jolinder had 23, and Williams added 15. FSU shot 50.9 percent from the floor, 30.4 percent (7-23) from the 3-point line, and 84.2 percent (16-19) at the free throw line.
Other MEC Games Saturday:
Salem @ Frostburg State
Glenville State @ Wheeling
West Virginia Wesleyan @ West Virginia State
Concord @ West Liberty
Davis & Elkins @ Charleston
MEC Standings:
Charleston 15-2 (22-3)
West Liberty 14-3 (20-5)
Concord 13-4 (20-4)
West Virginia State 12-5 (17-7)
Fairmont State 10-7 (18-7)
Davis & Elkins 8-9 (13-12)
NDC 8-10 (13-11)
Glenville State 7-10 (12-13)
Wheeling 5-13 (8-16)
Frostburg State 2-16 (2-23)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-16 (2-23)
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