The Notre Dame College Falcons and Glenville State Pioneers did battle at Murphy Gym on Wednesday night in front of a electric crowd but ultimately Glenville State prevailed 87-79 to improve to 5-2 and 2-1 in the MEC. With the loss NDC fell to 1-6 and 0-3 in the MEC.
The Falcons were led by a trio of players who had big nights. Larenz Thurman led the way with 27 points- five rebounds- and- five assists. Levi Frankland added 19- while DeAnthony Owens scored 23. The Falcons shot 55 percent as a team- 40 percent (10-25) from the 3-point line- and- 53 percent (9-17) at the free throw line. They had 17 assists and 18 turnovers as a team.
Coach Mark Richmond talked about the team basically starting over tonight with Owens and Jacob Sala playing there first minutes of the season:
" It was definitely nice to get DeAnthony and Sala back tonight. It is kind of like starting over. We will find the roles that they are going to play though. It is a work in progress. I was happy with the effort, feel like DeAnthony kind of got a little tired at the end of the game there tonight. 38 minutes for Larenz was probably a few to many but he was playing well. Then after the guys got tired we started throwing the ball all over the place. We tried to warn these guys before the game that every game Glenville has played this year the other team loses there poise and they go on a 10 or 12 point run. That happened again tonight."Richmond stated.
Richmond continued about the slim margin for error this team has:
" We aren't the kind of team that can be good if we are not all clicking at once. Obviously Drew struggled and he has been battling some knee stuff this season. He has had some uncharacteristic things happen like missing free throws. He needs to take good shots, he doesn't need to make five or six 3-pointer's to help us. I was hoping he was going to help us more on the boards but it did not work out that way tonight."Richmond said.
Glenville State was led by six players in double figures. Phil Bledsoe led the way with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Richmond talked about the job the Falcons did on Bledsoe:
"Thought we did a decent job on him. We held him under his average and forced him into some tough shots- but he did get the boards when they really needed them."
Hagel Augustin scored 17 points- Steven Verplancken netted 13- Noah Frampton added 12- while both Rodney Ray and Seth Fallon chipped in 10. The Pioneers shot 49 percent as a team- 30 percent (8-27) from the 3-point line- and- 69 percent (11-16) at the free throw line. Each team had 35 rebounds. The Pioneers had 12 assists- and- 12 turnovers as a team.
The Falcons got off to a good start in this one thanks to the jolt they got from Owens. He would score the game's first four points and after a Frankland 3-pointer Owens would knock down a jumper to give the home team a 9-2 lead. Thurman would hit a 3-pointer to make it a eight point lead- before a Ray bucket would get the Pioneers within six (12-6.) Owens would hit a 3-pointer at the 11:03 mark and the Falcons led 21-12. The lead would be 10 (22-12) before a 12-2 Pioneers run would tie the game at 24 after a Augustin layup at the 6:19 mark of the half. Owens would score six straight and Frankland would hit another 3-ball to put the Falcons up 33-26 with 4:29 in the half. The Pioneers would go on another run and it would be a one point (38-37) halftime lead for NDC.
Ownes led the Falcons with 21 in the first half- while Thurman added seven- and- Frankland had six. NDC shot 58 percent in the opening half- 36 percent (4-11) from the 3-point line- and- 57 percent (4-7) at the free throw line. They had nine assists and nine turnovers as a team.
Glenville State was led by nine points each from Augustin and Rodney Ray- while Bledsoe added eight. The Pioneers shot 50 percent- 23 percent from the 3-point line (3-13-) and- 0-2 at the free throw line. The Pioneers had five assists- and- nine turnovers as a team in the half.
The second half began and the teams would battle back and forth. Frankland would hit a layup at the 15:58 mark and NDC led 51-46. The lead would be eight after Frankland hit another 3-ball but the Pioneers would battle back to get to within 66-65. It would be 68-67 Falcons after a Thurman layup then the tide would turn. Bledsoe would hit a bucket and spark a 12-0 run in which the Falcons committed five turnovers at the 4:18 mark.
Richmond stated the obvious:
"During that stretch we started throwing the ball around to much.
He continued talking about free throws and free throw block outs:
" We ended up missing eight free throws and the difference in the game was eight, so obviously that was part of it. I was more disappointed in missing the free throw block outs. We had to many of those missed. They had 15 or 16 timely offensive rebounds and that is not acceptable."
NDC would score five straight points and get to within six (79-73) after a Thurman 3-pointer at the 1:34 mark. That is as close as they would get the rest of the way.
Bruce Hodges talked about the game afterwards:
" We gotta be better at completing games! We play good for about 33 minutes- and- those seven minutes killed us." Hodges said.
Scarberry agreed:
" We have to be able to put a full 40 minutes together like Bruce said. We now have bodies that we can run in and out so we need to take advantage of that."
NDC will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Concord. Tip time is set for 4 PM.
Other MEC Scores Wednesday:
West Virginia Wesleyan 94 West Liberty 91
Urbana 61 Concord 58
Fairmont State 78 Charleston 72
Davis &Elkins 74 Wheeling 73
West Virginia State 103 Frostburg State 80
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 2-1 (5-1)
West Virginia State 2-1 (5-1)
Glenville State 2-1 (5-2)
West Liberty 2-1 (5-2)
Wheeling 2-1 (5-2)
Davis &Elkins 2-1 (4-4)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-1 (2-6)
Charleston 1-2 (5-2)
Concord 1-2 (3-5)
Frostburg State 1-2 (2-5)
Urbana 1-2 (2-5)
NDC 0-3 (1-6)
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