The Notre Dame College Falcons were down by one point and had a chance to win late but DeAnthony Owens put back of a Jordan Burton miss was waved off as time expired and the Falcons suffered the heartbreaking 66-65 loss on Senior Day at the Grimes Center. With the loss NDC finished the regular season with a record of 9-19. Urbana improved to 8-20 with the win. Both teams finished with 7-15 records in the MEC.
NDC was led by Levi Frankland with 20 points- Drew Scarberry netted 16 points to go along with eight rebounds- Bruce Hodges tallied 13- and- DeAnthony Owens added 10 points to go along with a team high nine rebounds. NDC shot 43 percent from the field- 21 percent (4-19) from the 3-point line- and- 79 percent (15-19) from the free throw line. NDC won the rebounding battle 38-27. They had 10 assists- and- 10 turnovers in the contest.
Urbana was led by Horn with 21 points- Shaun Monroe added 16- and- Mike Ryan tallied 14. The Blue Knights shot 45 percent from the field- 35 percent (9-26) from the 3-point line- and- shot 64 percent (7-11) from the free throw line. The Blue Knights had 13 assists- and- six turnovers in the game.
It was the home team that got off to a hot start in this one as they jumped out to a 9-0 lead early. At the 10:27 mark of the first half NDC still found themselves down eight (23-15.) At the 4:41 mark the Falcons would get to within four (29-25.) After a late Urbana surge to end the half the Blue Knights took a 39-31 halftime lead.
Bruce Hodges led NDC with 10 in the opening half- while Levi Frankland added eight. The Falcons shot 41 percent from the field- 17 percent from the 3-point line (2-12-) and- 75 percent (3-4) from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes. The Falcons led on the glass 19-16 in the opening stanza.
Urbana was led in the first half by Horn and Monroe with 11 each- while Ryan netted 10. The Blue Knights shot a blistering 53 percent from the field- 50 percent (6-12) from the 3-point line- and- went one of two at the free throw line. They had eight assists- and- three turnovers in the half.
At the 14:29 mark the Blue Knights still held a seven point lead (48-41.) About five minutes later NDC was down five (52-47.) NDC then went on a run and got to within a point at the seven minute mark. The Falcons would take what would be the teams first lead of the game at the 6:33 mark. The two teams would go back and forth for the next several minutes and at the 1:32 mark of regulation the game was tied. Owens was fouled behind the 3-point line- and- would make just one of three at the line but NDC held a one point advantage. After a foul by NDC at the other end also on a 3-point attempt Horn would have three of his own. After splitting the first two NDC called timeout with the game tied and 17.7 seconds to go. Horn got the roll and put the Blue Knights on top. Burton would then have a chance to win it for NDC but his jumper was off the mark- then Owens put in the miss but the ball was still in the hands of Owens as time expired. After a brief delay the basket was waved off and Urbana joined NDC in this weeks MEC Tournament.
Coach Mark Richmond talked about his team after the contest:
"It was a really competitive game. They obviously jumped on us early with the 9-0 start but we fought back and played well down the stretch. We are obviously disappointed with the outcome but those are the type of games that are going to be played in March. I hope today prepares us as we go to Wheeling on Wednesday."Richmond explained.
Hodges talked about this one and what it means going forward:
" If we want a chance next week we gotta come out ready to play from warm ups. We can't be lackadaisical Hodges mentioned.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
West Virginia Wesleyan 84 Davis& Elkins 70
West Liberty 90 Wheeling 76
Charleston 85 West Virginia State 78
Glenville State 104 Concord 75
Fairmont State 103 Frostburg State 81
Final MEC Standings:
West Liberty 19-3 (24-4)
Charleston 17-5 (23-5)
Fairmont State 16-6 (22-6)
West Virginia State 13-9 (18-9)
Wheeling 11-11 (14-12)
Glenville State 11-11 (14-14)
West Virginia Wesleyan 10-12 (11-17)
Concord 8-14 (11-17)
NDC 7-15 (9-19)
Urbana 7-15 (8-20)
Frostburg State 7-15 (10-18)
Davis & Elkins 6-16 (8-20)
MEC Tournament (Wed.)
Friday games:
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