The Notre Dame College Falcons (14-8 10-6 MEC) saw a six game win streak come to an end on Saturday at the hands of the Davis &Elkins College Senators (13-9 7-9 MEC) by a score of 78-63.
"We dug ourselves a huge hole early on and we were never able to get out of it, "NDC head coach Mark Richmond explained. "We were down 15 at the half, tried to play the right way in the second half but couldn't overcome some of the mistakes we were making. We weren't good enough offensively (7 assists and 12 turnovers,) and defensively we couldn't get the key stops when we needed them."
NDC was led by a trio of players in double figures. Jaedon Willis paced the Falcons with 27 points, Tyland Crawford netted 12 as he grabbed nine rebounds, and Obinna Ugwuakazi also scored in double figures with 10.
Evan Busby led the way for the Senators with 17, Sam Rolle added 15, and Ashton Lovette posted a 14 point outing.
DeAirius Barker hit a jumper for NDC's first points after Rolle scored the first two points of the game for D& E. The Senators went up 11-4 just four minutes in. After a Barker layup at the 13:22 mark of the opening half NDC trailed 14-10. The Falcons went ice cold and the Senators went on a 12-0 run as a layup by Jayden White gave the Senators a 26-10 lead with 7:33 until halftime. The lead grew to a game high 19 points (33-14) on a pair of Breland Walton free throws with 3:41 in the first stanza. NDC would trim the lead to 11 (35-24) as Jaedon Willis hit back to back 3-pointer's. The Senators scored the last four points of the half and took a 15 point lead (39-24) into the locker room.
Willis led the Falcons with 12 points in the first half, while both Barker and Ugwuakazi tallied four. NDC shot 24 percent in the first half, 13 percent (2-15) from the 3-point line and went a perfect six of six from the free throw line.
The Senators were led by White with eight while Busby and Lovette each tallied seven in the first 20 minutes. D& E shot 58 percent as a team in the half, 36 percent (4-11) from the 3-point line and 5-6 from the free throw line. The Senators had a 21-16 edge on the boards in the first 20 minutes.
The lead went back to a game high 19 (45-26) after a Rolle layup. NDC would pull to within 13 (55-42) on a Willis jumper with 12:54 on the clock. Willis knocked down another 3-pointer and Ugwuakazi split a pair of free throws to get NDC to within 11 (57-46) at the 9:13 mark. The Senators all but put this one away with a 8-0 run capped by a pair of Clarens Pierre free throws with 4:20 to go. NDC would get to within 10 (71-61) with 1:21 to go but that is as close as they would come as the Senators completed the wire to wire win.
Richmond was blunt after this one:
"We didn't shoot the ball particularly well, when you get out rebounded by 16 and you have seven assists and 12 turnovers they probably aren't going to go in. You've got to play the right way and respect the game, I don't think we did that today. We looked like a team that has played four games in the last seven days. We challenged our team to get all three of these this week after a good win at Glenville seven days ago. We just didn't have the energy and effort that we needed tonight to beat a good team."
NDC was paced by Willis who was 9 of 22 from the field and 4-13 from the 3-point line, he went a perfect 5-5 at the free throw line on his way to 27 points to go along with four assists and a pair of steals. Crawford went 2-5 from the field including a triple and went 7-7 from the free throw line on his way to 12 points and 9 boards. Ugwuakazi went 4-8 from the floor including a 3-pointer on his way to 10 points. As a team NDC shot 32 percent from the field, a frigid 20 percent (6-30) from the 3-point line and 94 percent (15-16) from the free throw line. They had seven assists and 12 turnovers in this one.
The Senators were led by Busby who was 7-12 from the field including making his only 3-pointer of the night on his way to 17 points, Rolle went 5-12 from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line to tally 15 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists. Lovette was 5-6 from the field, including 2-3 from the 3-point line as he scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds.
D& E shot 44 percent from the field, 26 percent (5-19) from the 3-point line and 75 percent (21-28) at the free throw line. They won the rebounding battle 47-31. The Senators had 14 assists and 14 turnovers as they completed the season split of the series with the Falcons, each team winning on the other's home floor.
NDC will look to get back on the winning track Wednesday when they travel to Fairmont State to take on the Fighting Falcons. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
Alderson Broaddus 73 West Virginia Wesleyan 50
West Liberty 94 Charleston 77
Fairmont State 92 Concord 86
West Virginia State 111 Wheeling 77
Frostburg State 88 Glenville State 83
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 14-2 (19-3)
Fairmont State 12-4 (17-5)
Charleston 12-4 (15-7)
West Virginia State 10-6 (16-6)
NDC 10-6 (14-8)
Glenville State 9-7 (13-9)
Concord 8-8 (11-10)
Davis & Elkins 7-9 (13-9)
Alderson Broaddus 6-10 (8-13)
Frostburg State 3-13 (7-15)
Wheeling 3-13 (5-17)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-14 (2-18)
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