For the second straight year the Notre Dame College Falcons knocked off the Fairmont State Fighting Falcons at Murphy Gym to gain a split of the season series. This time around, NDC was a 96-85 winner. With the win NDC improved to 6-8 on the year, while Fairmont dropped to 10-3 with the loss.
Jordan Roland talked about the win afterwards:
" We played solid defense the whole night, and shared the ball on offense. We played a great team game,"Roland mentioned.
Coach Mark Richmond agreed:
" We really shared the ball tonight. We got some penetration, and made the extra pass. We got some of our guys going with some easy ones, "Richmond stated..
The game went back and forth in the early going. At the 10:16 mark of the first half after an Elijah Barnett dunk NDC trailed 26-22. A Jordan Roland layup would tie the game at 26 with 7:36 in the first half. Fairmont went back on top, but NDC would knot the game at 41 after a Tyland Crawford layup at the 1:03 mark. It would be 42-41 Fairmont at the intermission after Isaiah Sanders split a pair of free throws.
Roland led NDC with 14 points in the opening half. NDC shot 60 percent as a team- and- 40 percent (4-10) from the 3-point line in the opening stanza. They shot just 25 percent (1-4) from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes.
Fairmont State was led by Dale Bonner with 13 points in the opening stanza. As a team they shot 47 percent from the field- 58 percent (7-12) from the 3-point line- and- 70 percent (7-10) from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes.
NDC came out in the second half with a 7-0 run, as Crawford knocked down a 3-pointer- and- John Godinez hit a pair of layups. The lead would shrink to two before Crawford hit another 3-pointer- and- a Mike Sampson layup stretched the lead to seven. Fairmont would come back and tie the game at 57 after an Ilishia Washington 3-pointer at the 12:27 mark. NDC would again go on a 8-0 run, that included an Elijah Barnett dunk, and a Burton 3-pointer at the 9:47 mark. Fairmont would get to within four with 36 seconds, but NDC would close this one at the free throw line.
NDC was paced by Roland who stuffed the stat sheet with 24 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a pair of blocks. Sampson added a season high 21 points to go along with nine rebounds, Crawford netted 17 to go with seven rebounds and four assists, while Burton rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
Burton talked about how it was a little different game for him tonight:
" I felt like they (Fairmont) played good defense today, and did a good job on not letting me catch and shoot, but I found a couple open ones and knocked them down,"Burton explained.
Richmond talked about how his team did a good job finishing in the paint late tonight:
" We have been talking about that all year, but tonight we did a good job of finishing around the rim, especially down the stretch."
As a team NDC shot 57 percent from the field- 38 percent (8-21) from the 3-point line- and- 72 percent (18-25) from the free throw line. They won the rebounding battle 36-24, while they had 18 assists, and just eight turnovers.
Richmond talked about the importance of rebounding in this one:
" We did a really good job on the glass tonight. They only had four offensive rebounds as a team, which has to be way under their average.
Fairmont was paced by Bonner who poured in a game high 35 points- Sanders added 16- and- Zyon Dobbs scored 14. Fairmont shot 47 percent from the field- 48 percent (10-21) from the 3-point line- and- 81 percent (21-26) from the free throw line in the contest. Fairmont had 13 assists- and- 10 turnovers as a team in this one.
Richmond talked about the defensive effort tonight:
"We did a really good job of keeping them out of the paint. They have bigger, stronger guards who they try and post a lot, so we had to be careful not to foul."
Richmond also talked about the contributions he got from several guys:
"The games have been so compact of late that we have had to play more guys. I feel like the way the game was going tonight we didn't want to change it. The guys who were out there earned the right to play that much. As we come down the stretch and into March we will need more guys for more minutes."
Richmond lastly talked about what the team learned from the first meeting:
" We learned from a couple games, not just the one against Fairmont but the West Lib game as well we learned from. We have young guys, and they are starting to figure out how to close games out."
NDC will be back in action Wednesday when they host Frostburg State. Tip time is slated for 7:30 PM. You can catch all the action on the MountainEast.TV portal and live stats in real time at NotreDameFalcons.com
Other MEC Scores Monday:
West Liberty 77 Davis & Elkins 59
West Virginia State 86 Wheeling 68
Frostburg State 87 Alderson Broaddus 86
MEC North Standings:
West Liberty 11-3
Fairmont State 10-3
Alderson Broaddus 6-7
NDC 6-8
Frostburg State 4-9
Wheeling 3-10
MEC South:
Charleston 12-2
Glenville State 7-2
West Virginia State 7-6
Concord 7-6
Davis & Elkins 3-9
West Virginia Wesleyan 0-13
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