#4 West Liberty Cruises Past Short-Handed Falcons.

When you are playing the #4 team in the country just about everything has to go right to get in the win column. For the Notre Dame College Falcons a tough start contributed to a deficit that was to much to overcome. NDC ultimately fell 93-76 to the Hilltoppers at Murphy Gym on Saturday. With the win the Hilltoppers have now rattled off 10 straight victories and improve to 17-1 on the season and 11-1 in the MEC. With the loss NDC falls to 13-5 and 7-5 in the MEC.
   A balanced attack by West Liberty saw them place six players in double figures for the game.  David Dennis led the way with 17 points- seven rebounds and four assists- Dan Monteroso scored 15- Devin Hoehn tallied 12- Brady Arnold was a perfect four for four from the field including three 3-pointer's en route to his 11 points- while Clay Guillozet and James Griffin scored 10 points each.
  The Hilltoppers shot 50 percent as a team- went 14-34 (41 percent) from the 3-point line- but struggled at the free throw line where they shot 58 percent (7-12.)  They had 23 assists and seven turnovers in the contest.
  NDC played without starting point guard Kobie Johnson who missed his third straight game with a concussion. Also Nathan Kellum (broken hand) is out as well.  Five NDC players scored in double figures in the loss. Will Vorhees led the way with 19 points- nine rebounds and six assists- Drew Scarberry drilled five 3-pointer's en route to his 15 points- while Jay Banyasz- Oliver Meggins and Kyauta Taylor each scored 10.  NDC shot 41 percent as a team in the game- they were 9-25 (36 percent) from the 3-point line-and- 69 percent (9-13) from the free throw line.  NDC won the rebounding battle 44-37. They had 19 assists and 14 turnovers.
   For the second straight Saturday NDC dug themselves a hole against a top five opponent.  NDC fell in a 15-5 hole in the first 2:17 of the game.  At the 12:40 mark after a Montereso basket the Hilltoppers would hold a 20 point lead (29-9.)  NDC would get to within 15 (34-19) after a Meggins layup but West Liberty would respond with a pair of 3-pointer's by Arnold.  NDC would see Arnold hit his third 3-pointer of the half right before halftime and would trail by 23 (52-29) at the intermission.
  West Liberty would take a 27 point lead on three different occassions before NDC would go on a 12-0 run. Scarberry would score all 12 points in the span on four straight 3-pointer's.  NDC would trail by 15 at the 9:35 mark but the Hilltoppers would respond with seven straight points that would all but seal this one.  NDC would get to within 12 with 1:33 to go but it would be too little too late.
 Scarberry and Taylor would each score all of their points in the second half. Banyasz would add a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds-) while the Falcons shot the 3-pointer much better in the second half (8-16) than in the first (1-9.)
  NDC will be back in action Thursday when they travel to West Virginia Wesleyan. Tip time is set for 730 PM. The Falcons defeated Wesleyan 79-65 in the first meeting.
  Other MEC Scores:
Wheeling Jesuit 89 Urbana 63
West Virginia State 90 Concord 88
Fairmont State 118 West Virginia Wesleyan 85
Shepherd 84 Glenville State 79
Virginia Wise 82 Charleston 68
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 12-0 (18-0)
West Liberty 11-1 (17-1)
Wheeling Jesuit 10-2 (16-2)
Shepherd 8-4 (11-7)
Notre Dame College 7-5 (13-5)
Glenville State 5-7 (8-8)
West Virginia Wesleyan 5-7 (8-10)
Charleston 4-8 (10-8)
Urbana 3-9 (8-10)
West Virginia State 3-9 (6-12)
Virginia Wise 3-9 (5-13)
Concord 1-11 (5-13)