It is no secret to anyone that follows Notre Dame College basketball or the Mountain East Conference that they were an angry basketball team coming off a disappointing 86-78 loss to Lake Erie on Saturday. The Falcons came out a brand new team and rolled to a 109-81 thrashing of Glenville State inside Murphy Gym on Thursday night. With the win the Falcons improved to 9-4 and 5-2 in the MEC. With the defeat the Pioneers fell to 7-6 and 2-5 in the MEC.
Bruce Hodges talked about the mindset from the tip:
" We came out focused. We didn't like how things went last game. We wanted to come out 1-0 and that's what we did. We played great defense and we played together.
Isaiah Sanders agreed:
" We set the tone from the beginning. We executed on both ends. It was nice everyone get a chance to play tonight. The energy was great."
Will Vorhees led the Falcons with 23 points and 13 rebounds in 22 minutes in this one- Scarberry came off the bench to knock down seven 3-pointer's on his way to 23 points- Halil Parks scored 12- and- Sanders chipped in 10- along with 10 from Hodges. NDC shot 55 percent as a team- 36 percent (12-33) from the 3-point line- and- 78 percent (7-9) at the free throw line. The Falcons won the rebounding battle 43-40. They had 22 assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
Scarberry talked about the win afterwards:
" It felt really good getting a win like that tonight. We really came out and executed our game plan almost to perfection. We had the bad taste of the Lake Erie game in our mouth and we didn't want to experience that again. We used that game as motivation throughout the week and we played well tonight."
Vorhees gave his insight:
" We played together as a team and remained unselfish all the way thru. The good shooting percentages reflect good shot selection. Everybody contributed to a good team win."
Coach Tim Koenig talked about the lift the team got from Scarberry:
" We kept telling Scarberry it's gonna come-it's gonna come- and it came for him tonight. The shot selection was really good tonight and we got the ball inside which was big as well."
Koenig spoke about Vorhees:
." Will was really good around the rim tonight.
On getting contributions up and down the roster in this one:
" It was great to get contributions from everyone. Mo (Carroll) gave us a lift tonight. Hamish was really good especially on defense. He was guarding Bledsoe and forced him into some tough shots. Kam (Harris) initially didn't make as many plays but made some plays later tonight both on the offensive and defensive end. Was really pleased with the guys tonight. We need all of them. We know that Angelo is going to be out now, we don't know for how long but we need all these guys.
On winning the rebounding battle tonight:
"It was good to win the boards but we have some room for growth for sure. For the most part I was pleased with the rebounding but we gave up a lot of second chance points and some points in transition. With the score being lopsided it covers up those areas a little bit but that is a focus of ours. It is always a focus of ours."
The Pioneers were led by Bledsoe and Pollydore who scored 25 points each. 22 of the 25 points by Pollydore were in the second half. Kalin Johnson also scored in double figures with 10. Glenville shot 40 percent as a team- 28 percent (13-46) from the 3-point line. They shot at a 73 percent clip (8-11) at the free throw line. The Pioneers had six assists and 16 turnovers in the contest.
The Falcons got off to a quick start in this one as they would score the first six points and never look back. Scarberry would hit two of his seven 3-pointer's back to back as the Falcons would lead 24-5 with 13:31 to go in the half. A pair of free throws by Sanders would stretch the lead to 26 (40-14) at the 7:10 mark of the half. The Pioneers would trim the lead to 22 (44-22) before a 9-0 Falcons spurt would expand the lead after another Scarberry 3-ball. NDC would take a 56-27 lead into the locker room.
Vorhees would have 17 points and 13 rebounds in the first 20 minutes- while Scarberry knocked down four 3-pointer's en route to 14 points. NDC shot 52 percent in the opening half- 41 percent from the 3-point line. The Falcons led on the boards 24-21 at the intermission. They had 12 assists and three turnovers in the half.
Glenville was led by eight points from Bledsoe- while Kalin Johnson added six. The Pioneers shot 25 percent from the field- 24 percent (5-21) from the 3-point line- and- 75 percent (6-8) at the free throw line. They had three assists and 12 turnovers as a team.
NDC got a chance to get in some guys who normally do not play in the second stanza. They would lead by as many as many as 37 while they cruised to the victory.
Cugini talked about how proud he was of his teammates tonight:
" Definitely got that bad taste out of our mouth. It was a great team effort. We defended and worked very hard. So proud of my team tonight!"
NDC will be back in action Saturday when they host West Virginia Wesleyan. Tip time is set for 4 PM at Murphy Gym.
Other MEC Scores:
Charleston 91 Wheeling Jesuit 74
Fairmont State 106 Virginia Wise 80
Shepherd 90 Concord 74
West Liberty 105 West Virginia State 90
West Virginia Wesleyan 89 Urbana 79
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 7-0 (10-3)
West Liberty 6-1 (10-2)
Concord 5-2 (9-3)
NDC 5-2 (9-4)
Charleston 4-3 (9-4)
Shepherd 4-3 (8-5)
West Virginia Wesleyan 3-4 (6-7)
Virginia Wise 3-4 (5-7)
Glenville State 2-5 (7-6)
West Virginia State 2-5 (5-8)
Urbana 1-6 (3-8)
Wheeling Jesuit 0-7 (1-12)
Atlantic Region Rankings:
1. Indiana (PA) 13-1
2. Fairmont State 10-3
3. West Liberty 10-2
4. Concord 9-3
5. Shippensburg 8-3
6. Virginia State 10-3
7. East Stroudsburg 9-4
8. Lincoln(PA) 10-4
9. Pitt-Johnstown 9-4
10. Chowan 10-1
T10. MercyHurst 8-3
Receiving Votes:
NDC 4
Slippery Rock 3
West Chester 3
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