The Notre Dame College Falcons and Davis and Elkins Senators did battle inside Murphy Gymnasium on Wednesday night. NDC would come out with a 85-81 win as they improved to 6-2 on the season and 4-1 in the MEC. The Senators fell to 2-6 and 1-4 in the MEC.
NDC was paced by Mike Sampson who was a perfect nine of nine from the floor, tying his own record from February 22nd (against Fairmont State) of most shots taken without a miss. He had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Jaedon Willis netted 12, while John Godinez and Tyland Crawford each had 10.
Sampson talked about his night:
" I just needed to stay aggressive and I knew my teammates would find me,"Sampson mentioned. "
The Senators got on the board first before NDC scored six straight points capped by a Sampson layup at the 17:21 mark of the opening half. NDC would stretch what was a 9-8 deficit to a 18-9 lead as Crawford hit a jumper, Sampson and Barker made layups, and then Sampson and Gbolohan Adio would cap the run at the 11:22 mark of the half. The lead would be stretched to 14 (28-14) as Godinez hit a 3-pointer and DeAirius Barker made a basket at the 8:30 mark of the opening half. The Senators would go on a 11-0 run to trim the lead to three (28-25) after a Cortney Walton 3-pointer at the 5:35 mark of the half. NDC would again stretch the lead to double digits (38-27) after two technical free throws by Willis. Willis would hit a jumper right before the halftime buzzer sounded as NDC would go into the locker room with a 12 point lead (42-30.) Sampson led NDC in the opening half with 10 points, Willis had nine, and Godinez added eight. The Falcons shot 55 percent from the field, 50 percent (4-8) from the 3-point line, and 50 percent (2-4) at the free throw line.
Sampson about setting the tone:
"I just felt like once I got the first one to go I felt real good the rest of the game, and built off that."
Coach Mark Richmond talked about the first half:
" I thought we played really well in the first half. I was really pleased how we played for the most part tonight, "Richmond explained.
Davis and Elkins was led by Breland Walton with 10 in the first half, Sam Rolle added eight, and Evan Busby scored four. The Senators shot 46 percent from the field, 50 percent from the 3-point line (3-6,) and 50 percent (5-10) at the free throw line in the opening 20 minutes.
Five minutes into the second half the NDC lead was six (49-43.) It was 55-50 Falcons when Adio provided a spark for the Falcons bench with a jumper and a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 10 (60-50.)
Richmond talked about Adio:
" He played very well tonight. He's a kid that I trust. He gave us a big lift at both ends tonight. He is still learning but he has come up with some key minutes for us."
A Sampson layup at the 8:19 mark again made the lead 14 (66-52) before the Senators scored the next five points. It was 68-60 NDC after a five point D and E run when Daylin Lee hit a 3-pointer and a layup by Sampson stretched the lead back to 13. The lead was 10 (79-69) at the 2:54 mark but the Senators hung in there late they closed to within four (85-81) as time expired.
Richmond talked about that:
"We definitely could have finished that game better. Part of that is on me for scheduling three games in six days. Our guys were definitely fatigued. We were fortunate that they (D and E) ran out of time. Our energy and effort was not as good as the first half but Mike just kept his motor going."
NDC shot 49 percent from the field, 32 percent (6-19) from the 3-point line, and 64 percent from the free throw line (14-22.) They also won the rebounding battle 36-34. They had 16 assists and 11 turnovers as a team.
Godinez talked about being prepared for the zone that the Senators threw at them:
"We knew that we were going to see them play zone tonight it was in the scouting report coming in. I thought we did a decent job against it although our shooters didn't shoot it that well. We did attack the zone with the pass and we hit some big shots against it. You got to give a lot of credit to Mike though he really was big for us tonight and let us to this win,"Godinez explained.
Richmond agreed:
"We have the type of team where our eyes should light up when teams play zone against us. We have not seen it a ton yet so we are not comfortable but with the guys we have it will be good to see it on film. I trust our guys to make the right play."
The Senators were paced by Sam Rolle with 25, Evan Busby added 22, and Breland Walton scored 14. D&E shot 48 percent from the field, 46 percent from the 3-point line (11-24) and 64 percent (14-22) from the free throw line. They had 14 assists, and 19 turnovers in this one.
Richmond talked about Sampson a little more:
" Mike is so big for us. He worked so hard all sprig and summer. He just has to remember where he came from and what got him here. Last season he made a living cutting and rebounding, I trust him though to take the outside shot as well. Obviously going 9-9 is very impressive."
NDC will be back in action Saturday when they travel to West Virginia Wesleyan. Tip time is set for 4 PM. You can catch all the action on the Mountain East Digital Network at MountainEast.TV
Other MEC Scores:
Fairmont State 85 Concord 71
Frostburg State 99 Glenville State 93
Alderson Broaddus-66 West Virginia Wesleyan 64
West Liberty 89 Charleston 78
West Virginia State 67 Wheeling 64
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 4-1 (8-1)
Fairmont State 4-1 (7-1)
NDC 4-1 (6-2)
Charleston 4-1 (7-2)
Alderson Broaddus 2-2 (5-3)
West Virginia State 2-2 (5-4)
Wheeling 2-3 (4-6)
Concord 2-3 (4-6)
Frostburg State 2-3 (3-7)
Glenville State 1-2 (3-4)
Davis & Elkins 1-4 (2-6)
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-5 (1-8)
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