Winning in the Mountain East Conference is not easy, especially on the road. The Notre Dame College Falcons rebounded both literally and figuratively after a setback at home against Fairmont State Saturday to complete the sweep of Wheeling with a 80-71 win at the McDonough Center.NDC had 19 offensive boards that led to a 17-7 edge in second chance points. They would hold Wheeling without a field goal for the last 4:14 as they would improve to 8-8 overall and 4-7 in the MEC. With the loss Wheeling fell to 5-11 and 2-8 in the MEC.
"Good team win, stayed with it even though it wasn't pretty at times. Proud of the way we finished after not being able to on Saturday," NDC head coach Mark Richmond explained.
Wheeling was playing without MEC leading scorer Marcus Johnson who was out with an injury but the Cards got off to a good start. Wheeling led 7-2 after a Trey Stoffer layup at the 18:27 mark of the first half. NDC got to within one (11-10) on a jumper by redshirt sophomore Devin Haid at the 13:50 mark of the first half. Junior Jamarr Talbert hit a pair of jumpers and NDC trailed 15-14 with 11:41 until halftime. SJ Hutchinson would give the Cardinals an eight point lead (24-16) with just under eight minutes remaining in the half. A three by senior Trent Williams would get NDC within four less than a minute later. It would be an eight point (38-30) lead for the Cardinals at halftime.
In the opening half NDC was led by Talbert with seven, Williams had six, and Dames tallied five. NDC shot 35.5 percent from the field, 18.2 percent (2-11) from the 3-point line and 85.7 percent (6-7) from the free throw line. The Falcons had one assist and six turnovers in the opening stanza.
Wheeling was led by Hutchinson with 11 points, Alex Smith had seven, Stoffer had six, and Sean Ealy five in the opening 20 minutes. They shot 64 percent from the field, 44.4 percent (4-9) from the 3-point line, and 40 percent (2-5) from the free throw line in the opening. half. They led the rebounding battle 17-15 and had four assists to go with nine turnovers in the first half.
NDC came out a different team after halftime. junior Josh Dames would score seven points in the first three minutes of the half and after he made a layup at the 17:39 mark NDC was within three (42-39.) The Cardinals stretched the lead to 10 (57-47) after an Ealy layup at the 12:15 mark. Junior RJ Ogom playing for the first time in more than a month got a 9-0 NDC run started with a jumper, after Williams hit a three, Devin Haid scored, and then a layup by Williams pulled NDC to within one (57-56) at the 10:23 mark. Caleb Murray hit three Wheeling free throws to go up four (62-58) but NDC would knot the game at 62 on a layup by Jevontae Jones with 7:14 to go. Ealy and Talbert would each hit a pair of free throws and we would be tied at 66 at the 5:04 mark. Dames would put NDC on top but an Ealy 3-pointer would make it 69-68 Wheeling with 4:14 to go. Ogom would make a layup and get fouled. He did not convert the free throw but NDC took the lead 70-69. A lead that they would not relinquish. NDC would put the clamps down on the defensive end as Haid then hit a 3-pointer at the 2:05 mark to put them up four (73-69.) junior Andre Harris hit a three of his own to make it 76-69 with 1:23 to go. NDC would then close this one out at the free throw line to compete the sweep of the Cardinals.
NDC had five players score in double figures led by 16 points and seven rebounds from Dames. Haid added 15 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, Talbert added a season high 11, while both Andre Harris and Williams scored 10. As a team NDC shot 43.3 percent (50 percent in the second half,) 27.6 percent (8-29) from the 3-point line, and 73.7 percent (14-19) from the free throw line. They had 10 assists and 10 turnovers in the contest. They also won the rebounding battle 42-28.
Wheeling was paced by Ealy who had 14 of his 19 points in the second half, Hutchinson had 11 of his 14 points in the first half, and Stoffer added 11. The Cardinals shot 52 percent from the field, 38.9 percent (7-18) from the 3-point line, and 75 percent (12-16) at the free throw line.
"From the jump I wanted to positively impact the game, whether that was looking for my own shot, screening to get my teammates open, or hustling on defense. I was willing to do it to get the win," Talbert explained.
"Just moving without the ball and giving my teammates space to operate, we have been putting in a lot of work in practice so that win was a testament of how we can really come back in the face of adversity," Dames said.
Ogom gave the final thoughts:
"Great team win. We didn't play perfect but we played really hard and that was the difference. We were hungry for this one, we need to keep this same energy for the rest of the season."
NDC will remain on the road to face Salem on Saturday. Tip time is slated for 4 PM.
Other MEC Scores:
Fairmont State 73 Davis & Elkins 72
West Virginia Wesleyan 88 Frostburg State 71
West Liberty 112 Salem 76
Charleston 78 Concord 67
West Virginia State 113 Glenville State 89
MEC Standings:
Charleston 9-1 (14-2)
West Liberty 8-1 (14-3)
West Virginia State 7-3 (11-5)
Fairmont State 6-4 (13-4)
Concord 6-4 (10-4)
Davis & Elkins 5-5 (9-8)
Glenville State 5-5 (9-8)
NDC 4-7 (8-8)
Wheeling 2-8 (5-11)
Frostburg State 2-8 (2-15)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-9 (2-15)
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