Falcons Knock Off Scrappy Cavaliers.

The Notre Dame College Falcons and the Virginia Wise Cavaliers did battle Tuesday night for the third time this season. This time it was an opening round Mountain East Tournament game and the sixth seeded Falcons knocked off the scrappy 11th seeded Cavaliers by a score of 102-84 at Murphy Gym. With the win NDC advances to the MEC Tournament Quarterfinals at the Charleston (West Va.) Civic Center. The sixth seeded Falcons will take on third seeded and fifth ranked in the country Fairmont State at 215 PM Friday.
  Senior Tyree Gaiter stuffed the stat sheet for NDC for the second consecutive game.  Gaiter was one rebound short of having a second consecutive triple-double. The Cleveland Heights product had 32 points- dished out 12 assists- and- also grabbed nine rebounds in the victory.  Will Vorhees also had a big night with 31 points. The sophomore and Gaiter were each named to the MEC All Conference First Team on Tuesday afternoon. Kyauta Taylor chipped in 15 points- while Ryan Hickoff came off the bench to score 11.
 The Falcons shot 56 percent (37-66) from the floor in the game- they also shot the ball well from the 3-point line where they shot 44 percent (12-27.)  NDC was solid at the free throw line where they shot 84 percent (16-19,) an area they have struggled  all year long. NDC dominated the rebounding battle 40-24.  They had 27 assists and turned the ball over just seven times.
  The Cavaliers had three players score in double figures on the evening.  Matt Day led the way, with 24 of his 29 points coming in the second half- Phillip Owens III more than doubled his season average with 27- while Dimitri Sousa added 20.  Ricardo Hill only scored five points, but he added nine rebounds and 10 assists.
 The Cavaliers shot 49 percent (31-63) in this one.  They shot 43 percent (13-30) from the 3-point line- UVA Wise shot 69 percent (9-13) from the free throw line (all 13 attempts coming in the second half.)  The Cavaliers had 21 assists and nine turnovers.
  The opening 11 plus minutes of the contest would see the two teams battle back and forth. It was a high energy game, as expected in a tournament game.  NDC would lead 24-22 at the 8:54 mark of the opening half.  The Falcons would stretch the lead to 10 about three minutes later after a Gaiter bucket (37-27.) The lead would remain at 10 (46-36) at the intermission.
  NDC would stretch the lead to begin the second half. At the 14:01 mark they would get a Hickoff 3-pointer to open up a 14 point lead (64-50.)  A Taylor 3-pointer three minutes later would stretch the lead to 16 (72-56.)  The Cavaliers would not go away though. They would get as close as five, before NDC would put them away.
 With the victory NDC improves to 19-10 on the season. The Cavaliers see a disappointing season come to a close at 4-25.
Other MEC Tournament Scores:
#9 Glenville State 89 #8 Shepherd 80
#5 Charleston 76 #12 Urbana 66
#7 West Virginia Wesleyan 70 #10 West Virginia State 54
Friday 3/4 Quarterfinals:
Game #1 (Noon tip): #2 Wheeling Jesuit vs #7 West Virginia Wesleyan
Game #2 (2:15 tip) #3 Fairmont State vs #6 Notre Dame College
Game #3 (6 PM tip) #1 West Liberty vs #9 Glenville State
Game #4 (8:15 tip) #4 Concord vs #5 Charleston
Atlantic Region Rankings (Top Eight to Qualify) Updated 3/2:
1. Wheeling Jesuit
2. West Liberty
3. Fairmont State
4. Kutzstown
5. Virginia State
6. West Chester
7. East Stroudsburg
8. Indiana (PA)
9. Concord
10. Shippensburg