It is not easy to win basketball games in late February and Early March. The Notre Dame College Falcons have been good at Murphy Gymnasium all season long but Wednesday they were run out of the gym by the West Liberty Hilltoppers 100-57 as West Lib outscored the Falcons 56-25 in the second stanza. With the loss NDC falls to 16-11 and 12-9 in the MEC. West Liberty improves to 24-3 and 19-2 in the MEC after the victory.
"They were the more aggressive team, "NDC head coach Mark Richmond said. We had a rough stretch early in the first half and then we settled back in."
Bryce Butler and Jaedon Willis would each score baskets to start this one as the game would be tied at 2. Obinna Ugwuakazi and Malik McKinney would trade layups and the game would be knotted at 4. Ugwuakazi would put the Falcons on top 6-4 but an old fashioned three-point play by Finley Woodward would give West Lib a 7-6 advantage. Crawford gave NDC a brief 8-7 lead but then a Zach Rasile layup put the Hilltoppers back on top. A 3-pointer by Daylin Lee at the 15:02 mark of the opening half gave NDC a 11-9 advantage. Chaz Hinds knocked down a 3-pointer which started a 10-0 West Liberty run to make it 19-11 in favor of the visitors. Ugwuakazi hit a layup to cut it to six but WLU McKinney hit a pair of free throws and Mike Sampson stretched the Hilltoppers lead back to double digits (23-13.) NDC got the crowd out of their seats on a put back dunk by Isaiah Sanders that trimmed the West Liberty lead to eight. After a Crawford layup at 7:35 to go in the opening half NDC was down 26-17. A three-point play by McKinney and a Butler triple would stretch the WLU lead back to 15 (32-17.) The lead swelled to 17 but NDC would go on a 6-0 run and after Ugwuakazi scored it was a 39-28 deficit for the home team. NDC would get a late hoop by Lee right before halftime to cut the Hilltopper lead to 12 (44-32.)
Richmond gave some thoughts after the first half:
"Obviously you have to play differently against this team. It is important to be well disciplined against them. Sometimes it gets difficult when you get behind. We kind of got back manageable at halftime."
NDC was led in the opening half by Daylin Lee and Obinna Ugwuakazi who each scored 10 points. Ugwuakazi also hauled in eight rebounds. They shot 41 percent from the field, 2-10 from the 3-point line, and 50 percent (4-8) at the free throw line. They led on the glass 23-21. The Falcons turned it over 12 times in the opening stanza.
West Liberty was led by McKinney with nine and Butler had eight in the opening 20 minutes. They shot 44 percent from the field, 22 percent (4-18) from the 3-point line, and 6-8 (75 percent) from the free throw line. They had seven turnovers in the opening stanza.
The second half was one to forget for the Falcons. WLU would score the first four points of the half until Jaedon Willis split a pair of free throws. DeAirius Barker would go on a personal 5-0 run as he made a layup and was fouled. He converted the free throw. Then he knocked down a jumper to cut the WLU lead to 11 (51-40) at the 15:44 mark. WLU would remove all doubt as they went on a 27-0 run from the 15:40 mark until Willis made a free throw at the 9:15 mark. WLU would cruise to victory from there.
Richmond had this to say:
"Obviously we got run out of the gym. We shot it quick, turned it over, didn't rebound, and didn't guard. That's kind of what happens against these guys when you play their style. You get run out of the gym. "
NDC was led by three players in double figures. Obinna Ugwuakazi scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while both Daylin Lee and Kaleb Torrence tallied 10 off the bench. For the first time this season and first time since 1/26/2022 Jaedon Willis did not score in double figures (five points Wednesday.) It was the first time in 38 contests the MEC's second leading scorer did not score in double digits. As a team NDC shot a frigid 32 percent from the floor, 14 percent (3-22) from the 3-point line, and 55 percent (12-22) at the free throw line. They had nine assists and 22 turnovers in the contest.
West Liberty was led by Ben Sarson with 20, McKinney added 16, Butler scored 15, while both Alek West and Chaz Hinds tallied 10. WLU shot 52 percent from the floor, 34 percent (11-32) from the 3-point line, and 63 percent (15-24) at the free throw line. Each team had 43 rebounds Wednesday night. WLU had 23 assists and 14 turnovers.
Richmond gave the final thoughts:
"Obviously we needed more out of a lot of people. Some guys did some nice things in certain spots. Against them (West Lib) it's gonna take a monumental effort and you got to play together and play for one another. Not sure we did that today."
Despite the loss on Wednesday NDC had the most home wins in a season (10) since the 2018-19 season. They finished the year with a 10-4 home record.
NDC will be back in action Saturday when they close the regular season at Alderson Broaddus. Tip time at Rex Pyles Arena is set for 4 PM.
Other MEC Scores Wednesday:
Alderson Broaddus 86 Wheeling 76
Fairmont State 104 West Virginia Wesleyan 55
West Virginia State 90 Concord 85
Charleston 82 Glenville State 63
Davis & Elkins 91 Frostburg State 83
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 19-2 (24-3)
Fairmont State 16-5 (21-6)
Charleston 16-5 (19-8)
West Virginia State 13-8 (19-8)
NDC 12-9 (16-11)
Davis &Elkins 11-10 (17-10)
Glenville State 11-10 (15-12)
Concord 10-11 (14-13)
Alderson Broaddus 8-13 (10-16)
Frostburg State 4-17 (8-19)
Wheeling 4-17 (6-21)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-19 (2-24)
Atlantic Region Rankings (Records as of 2.19)
Indiana (Pa) 25-1
West Liberty 23-3
MercyHurst 20-4
Virginia Union 21-6
Fairmont State 19-6
Pitt -Johnstown 18-7
West Chester 19-7
East Stroudsburg 20-7
Millersville 15-9
Charleston (WV) 18-9
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