The Notre Dame College Falcons and Fairmont State Fighting Falcons did battle inside of Murphy Gymnasium on Saturday. For the first time since Tim Koenig was on the sidelines as the coach of NDC he walked out of Murphy Gym with a victory.
"I was happy to get the win. It was a really well played game on both sides, "Fairmont State Coach Tim Koenig explained. "A lot of shot making and very high skilled basketball game. Just glad to get the win."
"I thought we didn't do a good enough job getting stops in the first half, "NDC head coach Mark Richmond mentioned. "Anytime you give up 88 at home it's going to be hard to win.
NDC (8-5 5-3 MEC) had four players score in double figures. Daylin Lee paced NDC with 18, Jaedon Willis added 16, Andre Harris scored 13 points and hauled in a team leading 10 rebounds, and Tyland Crawford came off the bench to tally 12.
Fairmont State (10-5 5-3 MEC) was paced by Fonz Hale with 20. Hale also dished out six assists. Isaiah Sanders and Briggs Parris each tallied 18, Tariq Woody scored 14 and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Zyon Dobbs scored 10.
The two teams went back and forth in the early going. After a Gbolohan Adio 3-pointer at the 17:19 mark of the opening half the game was tied at eight. The lead would change hands a couple more times and then after a Dobbs 3-pointer Fairmont had a 16-12 advantage. NDC would fight back and tie the game again, this time at 19 as Crawford converted a layup with 12:32 in the opening stanza. After a Dobbs hoop Crawford would counter to put NDC on top 22-21 on a 3-ball at the 11:52 mark. That lead would be short lived as Parris knocked down a triple 15 seconds later. It was 26-22 Fairmont and then Lee would put his stamp on the game. Lee's four point play at the 9:54 mark would knot the game at 29. Less than a minute later Lee would put the Falcons on top with a hoop. Younkin made a layup and Sanders hit a 3-pointer to put Fairmont up 34-31. Lee would hit a pair of free throws to make it 34-33 as he would score 11 straight points all told in a short span. The 3's kept falling for Fairmont as Hale and Sanders would hit a triple and then Parris hit back to back shots from the 3-point line to make it 46-35 in favor of the Fighting Falcons with with 4:13 in the first half. NDC got to within seven (50-43) after Willis hit a triple with 1:18 to go in the opening stanza. Sanders knocked down another 3-pointer as Fairmont took a 10 point lead (53-43) into the locker room.
Lee led NDC with 14 points in the opening stanza, Crawford netted eight, while both Willis and Harris scored five. NDC shot 45.7 percent in the opening half, 53.8 percent (7-13) from the 3-point line, and were a perfect four of four at the free throw line.
Parris knocked down four triples on his way to 12 points in the opening stanza, Hale and Sanders each had 12 as well. Fairmont shot 50 percent from the field, 52.4 percent (11-21) from the 3-point line, and were two of two at the free throw line in the opening half. They also led the rebounding battle 21-17 in the opening stanza.
NDC came out with plenty of life in the second half as they would score the first five points on an Adio jumper, a layup from Jamarr Talbert and a Lee free throw. After a steal and dunk by Sanders Fairmont was back up by seven (55-48.) The Fighting Falcons lead grew to double digits until Harris made a layup at the 12:35 mark to cut it to eight (61-53.) The next six points went to Fairmont as they would grow the lead to 14 (67-53.) Javontae Jones hit a 3-pointer for NDC but the Fighting Falcons would have the answer as they would score the next five points. Harris made a layup at the 8:01 mark and NDC was within 12 (72-60.) After a technical foul on FSU Willis would convert on three of four free throws and NDC was within eight (74-66) at the 6:47 mark. A Harris layup made it 76-68 with 5:59 to go. The next time NDC would get the lead to single digits would be after two Crawford free throws at the 3:26 mark. Willis and DeAirius Barker made layups and with 1:57 to go NDC was within five (82-77) That is as close as NDC would get as they did it one more time on a pair of Willis free throws with 32 seconds on the clock. Fairmont would ice this one at the free throw line.
Richmond talked about the game down the stretch:
"Down the stretch we did a better job of playing our style. Defensively our offense wouldn't allow us to get over the hump."
Richmond then talked about Crawford:
"Tyland is obviously an older guy. We know what we're going to get from Tyland. He has bought in this season to whatever it takes to help us win. It took him a few games to get his feet back from under him. We know what he's going to bring each and every night. That's why he's out there as much as he is. He did a nice job making shots today. He worked hard on that in the offseason. It's good to see those go in for him and he is obviously one of our better defenders.
"I just want to keep being aggressive on both ends and doing whatever I can to help the team, "Crawford stated.
Then Richmond talked taking care of the ball:
"I felt like we needed to be around that 10 number today turnover wise. We could have done a better job moving the ball and making the extra pass. "
NDC shot 42.9 percent from the field, 40.9 percent (9-22) from the 3-point line, and 72.7 percent (16-22) from the free throw line in this one. They had 12 assists and 12 turnovers in the contest.
Fairmont shot 47.8 percent from the field, 38.7 percent (12-31) from the 3-point line, and 70.6 percent (12-17) from the free throw line in the contest. Fairmont won the rebounding battle 42-34. The Fighting Falcons had 20 assists and 10 turnovers in the game.
Richmond talked shortening the rotation today:
"When you lose there's a lot of things you can do differently when you look back. The game dictated it though. It was more of a half court game in the first half. In the second half we wanted to play more guys . I thought we would try to get to the finish line with our best lineup and tonight it wasn't good enough. "
"It was a good game between two good teams just like always when we play them, "Sanders explained. "I'm happy we were able to come out with a win."
Crawford gave his thoughts:
"Today was a tough one. We gave up over 50 points in the first half which is unlike us. Then we tried to get it back all at once multiple times in the second half. Overall, we competed but we just need to execute more on the offensive end and lock in on defensive scout. Still like where we're at though. Have to keep pushing forward. "
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when West Virginia State comes to Murphy Gym. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
Concord 81 Wheeling 76
West Liberty 88 Glenville State 73
West Virginia State 106 West Virginia Wesleyan 76
Alderson Broaddus 91 Frostburg State 69
Charleston 82 Davis & Elkins 72
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 8-0 (13-1)
West Virginia State 7-1 (13-1)
Charleston 6-2 (8-5)
Fairmont State 5-3 (10-4)
Concord 5-3 (8-4)
NDC 5-3 (8-5)
Glenville State 4-4 (7-6)
Davis & Elkins 3-5 (9-5)
Alderson Broaddus 3-5 (4-8)
Frostburg State 1-7 (5-9)
West Virginia Wesleyan -7 (1-11)
Wheeling 0-8 (2-12)
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