As the calendar has nearly flipped to March and we come closer to the Mountain East Conference Tournament the intensity ramps up as well. That was certainly on display Wednesday night as the game featured six ties and 17 lead changes, despite a 27 point night from junior Gbolahan Adio that included a 10-12 (83 percent) shooting night that was tied for ninth in program history and a 5-6 night from the 3-point line a Zach Rasile 3-pointer with less than five seconds left lifted the #14 West Liberty Hilltoppers to a 88-87 win over Notre Dame College inside a rowdy Murphy Gym. With the loss NDC falls to 13-13 and 8-12 in the MEC. West Liberty improves to 22-5 and 16-3 in the MEC as they have now won seven straight.
"Thought we really competed. We definitely executed the game plan. We needed one more stop, obviously a lot of plays go into that. We had our opportunities and just could not close this one out,"NDC head coach Mark Richmond explained.
The two teams would go back and forth in the opening minutes but the Falcons would go on a 8-0 run as redshirt junior RJ Ogom knocked down a triple, Adio hit a jumper, and senior Trent Williams knocked down a triple at the 15:15 mark of the first half that gave NDC a 12-8 lead. The next six points went to WLU but a jumper by redshirt sophomore Jevontae Jones and a triple by redshirt sophomore Devin Haid gave the Falcons the lead back. A layup by Ogom made it 22-19 NDC lead at the 10:22 mark of the first half. The Hilltoppers would go on a run of their own and a layup by Kyler Daugustino made it 28-23 WLU with 8:04 in the opening half. A 3-pointer by Ben Sarson at the 6:38 mark made it a seven point (33-26) lead for WLU. Alek West made a layup and the Hilltoppers lead was eight (36-28) with 4:54 until halftime. Down eight (38-30) at the 4:09 mark of the opening half the Falcons went on a 8-0 run to knot the game at 38 on a Andre Harris layup with 1:21 until halftime. After a Finley Woodward layup Adio completed his perfect shooting half with a triple to make it 41-40 with 42 seconds until halftime. After two free throws by West WLU would carry a 42-41 lead into the halftime break.
NDC was led by Ogom with 12, Adio 10, and Williams seven in the opening half. They shot 54.2 percent from the field, 55.6 percent (5-9) from the 3-point line, and 83 percent (10-12) from the free throw line in the opening 20 minutes. They had eight assists and seven turnovers in the opening half. The Hilltoppers were led by West with 10 and Hinds eight in the opening stanza. They shot 47.1 percent from the field, 45.8 percent (7-16) from the 3-point line, and 42.9 percent (3-7) from the free throw line in the stanza. They had 10 assists and five turnovers in the half.
WLU would come out of the locker room and score the first five points of the second half. NDC would counter with the next five as Haid converted an old fashioned three-point play. The Hilltoppers would go on another run and open up a 10 point advantage (58-48) on a Woodward layup with 15:48 to go. NDC would battle back and get to within two (60-58) as Harris grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Adio who drained another shot from deep. NDC would retake the lead 66-64 as again Haid converted a three-point play. West hit a three to briefly give WLU the lead but Ogom made a layup and then after a steal by Haid freshman Robbie Cass layed it in on the other end to give NDC a three point lead (70-67.) After Hinds cut it one junior Josh Dames and Cass scored to make it a five point (74-69) Falcons lead with 8:38 to go. After a Woodward layup Haid went on a four point run of his own. Christian Montague spilt a pair of free throws and Adio scored back to back buckets to give NDC a 10 point lead (82-72) with 5:50 on the clock. The Hilltoppers would go on a 11-0 run over the next four plus minutes as Rasile drained a 3-ball with 1:39 to go to put the visitors up 83-82. Harris and West traded baskets and it was 85-84 WLU. Harris split a pair of free throws that knotted the game at 85 with 44 ticks remaining. Williams would knock down two free throws with 9.9 seconds to go and NDC led 87-85. After a Hilltoppers time out Rasile found himself open and drilled what proved to be the game winner from the top of the key with just under five seconds to go. NDC had one last chance but could not get up a shot before time expired.
NDC was led by Adio who had 27, Haid added 19 and nine rebounds, while Ogom tallied 12.
Richmond talked about the night Adio had:
"GB played really under control tonight. Especially against that team, he in particular gets sped up some times. He was on balance and had a really good shooting night."
NDC shot 54.4 percent from the field, 40 percent (8-20) from the 3-point line, and 73.9 percent (17-23) from the free throw line. NDC won the rebounding battle 39-28. They had 13 assists and 15 turnovers in the contest.
Rasile and West paced WLU with 15, Chaz Hinds had 13, Daugustino added 11, and Woodward tallied 10. The Hilltoppers shot 51.5 percent from the floor, 38.7 percent (12-31) from the 3-point line, and 42.9 percent (6-14) from the free throw line. They had 22 assists and nine turnovers in the contest.
Richmond gave the final thoughts:
"We have proven in the last two-three weeks that we can play with anyone in the MEC. We just have to clean up some mistakes and keep working to close these games out. I am really proud of how much we have improved. We are playing our best basketball heading into March."
NDC will close the regular season on Saturday at Murphy Gym when they host Salem. Tip time is set for 4 PM.
Other MEC Scores Wednesday:
Charleston 89 Glenville State 73
Davis & Elkins 97 Frostburg State 82
Concord 90 West Virginia State 83
Fairmont State 81 West Virginia Wesleyan 73
Wheeling 96 Salem 90
MEC Standings:
Charleston 17-2 (24-3)
West Liberty 16-3 (22-5)
Concord 14-5 (21-5)
West Virginia State 13-6 (18-8)
Fairmont State 12-7 (20-7)
Davis & Elkins 9-10 (14-13)
NDC 8-12 (13-13)
Glenville State 7-12 (12-15)
Wheeling 6-13 (10-16)
Frostburg State 2-17 (3-24)
West Virginia Wesleyan 1-18 (2-25)
Atlantic Region Rankings (Released Prior To Wednesday Games:)
Gannon
Cal (PA)
Charleston
West Liberty
Millersville
East Stroudsburg
Concord
Fairmont State
West Virginia State
Lock Haven
Comments