The Notre Dame College Falcons have been looking for a signature win all season. They got just that on Saturday afternoon thanks to a zone defense and a solid offensive game that gave them a 96-91 win at the Walker Convocation Center. The win was the sixth straight on the road for the Falcons as they now match the 2018-19 squad with eight true road wins on the season. With the win NDC improves to 12-11 and 7-10 in the MEC. WVSU falls to 16-7 and 11-5 in the MEC after the home loss.
"Coach Rich had a great game plan and we came out and executed," NDC redshirt junior RJ Ogom stated. "We knew they (West Virginia State) would struggle against the zone, we practiced it this week and it ended up being the reason we won the game."
NDC was paced by the duo of Devin Haid and Andre Harris. Haid scored 24 of his season high 34 points in the second half and Harris tallied 16 points, 15 rebounds, and five assists. They were joined in double figures by junior Josh Dames (16 points in 16 minutes) and Ogom who had 10 points.
"Dre (Harris) and Dev (Haid) are big time players and played big today,"Ogom added.
"Really good win on the road. Did some good things on both ends of the floor. The guys really competed and played connected," NDC head coach Mark Richmond exclaimed.
NDC picked up the win despite a game high 37 points from Anthony Pittman of WVSU. It was the first time this season the Yellow Jackets lost when he scored 20+ points. Also in double figures were Mahzi Thames with 20 and Arthur Cox tallied 15.
After Ogom scored the first basket of the game Pittman scored the next four points. The 4-2 lead for WVSU would be the last time the home team would lead today. With the game knotted at 6 NDC went on a 7-0 run capped by a Dames triple that made it 13-6 Falcons at the 14:17 mark of the first half. After a Cox jumper NDC would get buckets from Dames and sophomore Jevontae Jones that stretched the lead to 17-8. WVSU battled back and got to within two (19-17) as Pittman knocked down a jumper with 10:07 left in the first half. Freshman Robbie Cass made a layup and a three by Haid put NDC back up seven (24-17.) After a Ricky Rollins jumper Haid hit another 3-ball to make it an eight point (27-19) lead with 6:57 in the first half. Dames hit another triple at the 4:22 mark and the Falcons again led by double digits. After Miguel Martinez hit a pair of free throws Dames knocked down his second straight three. A Pittman 3-pointer would be followed by a three by junior Jamarr Talbert. The Falcons would carry a 13 point lead (42-29) into the halftime break. NDC shot 39 percent in the opening stanza, 30 percent (6-20) from the 3-point line, and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line in the half.NDC had nine assists and just one turnover in the opening 20 minutes. Haid and Dames each scored in double digits in the stanza while Harris added five rebounds and four assists.
For the Yellow Jackets Pittman had 13 in the opening half while Thames had six. They shot 33,3 percent from the floor, 6.3 percent (1-16) from the 3-point line, and 50 percent (4-8) from the free throw line in the half. They had one assist and three turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
After a Bunky Brown jumper started the scoring in the second half NDC went on a 7-0 run capped by a hoop by Harris. He was fouled and converted the free throw to stretch the Falcons lead to a game high 18 (49-31) points with 18:43 on the clock. After a Haid triple at the 16:57 mark the Falcons held a 17 point advantage (55-38.) A 8-0 run by the Yellow Jackets would get them to within single digits but Dames knocked down a triple to stretch the lead back to 12 (58-46.) Talbert hit his second triple at the 12:38 mark and the lead was 14 (63-49.) A 7-0 run by WVSU had them again within single digits as a Pittman jumper cut the lead to 63-56 with 10:31 to go. A Harris layup and a pair of Ogom free throws stretched the NDC lead back to double digits. NDC led by 11 (72-61) after senior Trent Williams scored at the 6:59 mark. WVSU would get to within two (73-71) as Thames made a layup and was fouled at the 4:15 mark. He would not convert the free throw and that would prove costly. Haid knocked down a triple, then Harris hit a jumper and a foul was committed by WVSU under the hoop after the bucket. Haid made both free throws to stretch the lead to nine (80-71) with 2:53 to go. A Hald dunk at the 1:35 mark would put the exclamation point on this one, After a couple of late triples by the Yellow Jackets NDC would end up with the five point win.
Haid went 9-16 from the floor, 4-7 from the 3-point line, and 12-13 from the free throw line as he scored 34 points to go along with eight rebounds, a pair of assists, and a pair of blocks. Harris stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points (6-12 from the floor,) 4-6 from the free throw line to go with 15 rebounds, and five assists. Dames put up 16 points in 16 minutes. He knocked down 4-7 from the 3-point line. He had this to say after this one:
"All praise to God. It was just a great team win. My teammates found me early and the rest took care of itself."
Ogom added 10 points and five rebounds. NDC had 16 assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
The Yellow Jackets were paced by Pittman who was 15-29 from the floor for his 37 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals. Thames was an efficient 8-10 from the floor, 2-3 from three and 2-3 from the free throw line as he tallied 20, while Cox 5-10 from the field and 5-5 from the free throw line for his 15 points. As a team WVSU shot 41.3 percent from the floor, 20.6 percent (7-34) from the 3-point line, and 69.2 percent (18-26) from the free throw line. They won the rebounding battle 45-44. They had 10 assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
"We did what we needed to do. Coach Rich gave us a game plan and we executed it," Talbert mentioned.
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they host Frostburg State. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores:
Glenville State 79 West Virginia Wesleyan 69
West Liberty 85 Fairmont State 60
Wheeling 88 Frostburg State 62
Charleston 108 Salem 65
Concord 94 Davis& Elkins 80
MEC Standings:
Charleston 14-2 (20-3)
West Liberty 13-3 (19-5)
Concord 12-4 (19-4)
West Virginia State 11-5 (16-7)
Fairmont State 10-7 (17-7)
Davis & Elkins 8-8 (13-11)
Glenville State 7-9 (12-12)
NDC 7-10 (12-11)
Wheeling 5-12 (8-15)
Frostburg State 2-15 (2-22)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-15 (2-22)
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