Return Of Vorhees Lifts NDC To Victory.

Down by nine (49-40) after the first 20 minutes of action in the home opener at Murphy Gym, the Notre Dame College Falcons rode the return of Will Vorhees and a stellar defensive effort in the second half to secure a 86-76 win at Murphy Gym Saturday.
  NDC (2-2 1-0 MEC) was paced by a double-double (33 points and 10 rebounds) from Vorhees. Vorhees scored 23 of his 33 in the second half. Kyauta Taylor also scored 11- and- Halil Parks had 11 off the bench including a pair of 3-pointer's with just over nine minutes to go that would give the Falcons the lead for good.
 NDC shot 49 percent as a team in the victory- they shot 30 percent (6-20) from the 3-point line- and- 80 percent (20-25) at the free throw line.  The Falcons dominated the boards, out-rebounding Concord 48-34.  They had 17 assists and 15 turnovers as a team.
  The Mountain Lions (2-2 0-1 MEC) dropped a second straight game. They were led by BJ Hamlet who nailed six 3-pointer's on his way to 28 points. 18 of his 28 points came in the first half.  Malik Johnson also scored in double figures with 14.
 The Mountain Lions shot 36 percent as a team in the defeat.  They shot 40 percent (14-35) from the 3-point line. 11 of those 14 3-pointer's coming in the first 20 minutes.  Concord struggled at the free throw line, where they shot 62 percent (8-13.)  The Mountain Lions had 17 assists and seven turnovers.
  The game begin with Concord jumping out to a 8-3 lead in the early going. NDC would answer right away and go on a 10-0 run with the raucous crowd at full throttle inside Murphy Gym as they led 13-8 at the 15:23 mark of the opening half after a Drew Scarberry dunk.
  The Mountain Lions would control the next three minutes or so and take a three point lead (21-18) with 12:37 in the first half.  Three minutes later the Mountain Lions would still hold a slim two point lead (26-24.)  After five more minutes of action Concord would still lead (39-36.)  The Mountain Lions would close the half on a 10-4 run to take a nine point lead (49-40) into the locker room.
   Concord was red-hot from the 3-point line in the opening half where they shot 58 percent (11-19.)  They also shot 50 percent from the field (19-38.)
  NDC shot 49 percent in the opening half, but just went 2-11 (18 percent) from the 3-point line.
  The second half got off to a good start for NDC as they continued to feed Vorhees in the post.  NDC went on a 9-2 run to start the second half and trailed by two (51-49) with 14:40 to go.  A few minutes later Oliver Megins would give NDC the lead back (54-53.)  The two teams would go back and forth for the next few minutes and would be knotted at 59. At that point Parks would nail back- to back 3-pointer's at the 9:12 mark that would give NDC a six point lead (65-59) that they would not relinquish the rest of the way.  The Falcons would lead by as many as 12 in the final minute and would go on to victory.
  Coach Tim Koenig talked about the mettle of his team, after bouncing back from a really tough loss for the second time this season:
" These guys played there guts out today. We made some mistakes both on offense and defense, but you can not play any harder than these guys played in this game," Koenig said.
On what he said to the team in the locker room at halftime:
" if we were in the locker room for eight minutes, 7:30 of those eight minutes was about defense, "Koenig said.
 Taylor spoke about the change on defense in the second half:
"At halftime Coach Koenig told me Hamlet is not going to score any more points in this half. It says a lot about the trust that Coach Koenig has in me as a defender to let me guard that guy and that was the turning point in the game, Taylor said."
Taylor also commented on the return of Vorhees and what it meant:
"Will being back makes things so much easier for me and the rest of the team on offense.  He is so clutch.
Taylor also spoke of the 3-pointer's by Halil Parks:
" Halil was huge down the stretch today. Those two 3-pointer's were daggers in the hearts of Concord, Taylor said.
  NDC will be back in action Monday night when they take on Virginia Wise. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM at Murphy Gym.