Spoiled Beach Day.

It was 65 degrees and sunny on a February day and the theme at Notre Dame College was "Beach Day" on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Falcons the Concord Mountain Lions play of late has been far from a day at the beach. Concord came away with a 95-87 win in a game that went back and forth for much of the day.
  NDC (16-10 10-10 MEC) was paced by Will Vorhees. Vorhees had 27 points- six rebounds- and- six assists on the day.  Kyauta Taylor added 24- while Ja'Sean Lewis had 13 points- seven assists- and- six rebounds in the defeat.  NDC shot 56 percent as a team- 40 percent (8-20) from the 3-point line- and- 78 percent (7-9) from the free throw line.  The Falcons had 23 assists and 12 turnovers in the contest.
  Concord (10-16 6-14MEC) won for the fifth time in the past six contests.They were paced by Tommy Bolte who provided 26 points- nine rebounds- six assists- and- four steals.  Four other players scored in double figures- Stephen Thompson (19-) Cam Shannon (15-) Michael Sanchez (12-) and- Babe Murphy (10.)
 The Mountain Lions shot 46 percent as a team- went 12-32 (38 percent) from the 3-point line- and 73 percent (11-15) from the free throw line.  Each team had 36 rebounds- the Mountain Lions had 19 assists and three turnovers as a team.
  NDC got off to a quick start in this one and led by nine (16-7) as Vorhees scored 10 points in the span leading up to the first media timeout.  Four minutes later NDC had a six point lead (18-12) at the 11:52 mark of the opening half.  Concord would fight back and tie the game at 20 after a Sanchez 3-pointer with nine minutes to go in the half.  The Falcons would regain the lead and go up by five after Taylor converted a old fashioned three-point play with 8:17 in the half.  The Mountain Lions would pull to within one (31-30) with 4:16 in the first half.  Jay Banaysz would convert a three-point play of his own to stretch the lead to four (37-33.)  Concord would get to within two and Vorhees would convert a old fashioned three-point play as well to give NCD a five point lead (42-37) with two minutes left in the opening stanza.  NDC would go into the locker room with a two point lead (46-44.)
  The Mountain Lions would get the lead early in the second half  after a Thompson dunk. Scarberry would knock down a 3-pointer to give the Falcons a 55-52 lead with 16:28- but Bolte would answer with a 3-ball of his own.  The game would be knotted at 57 with 14:41 to go.  The game would go back and forth for the next few minutes and would again be tied, this time at 65 after a Vorhees slam with 12 minutes to go.  Taylor gave NDC the lead back- with 8:28 to go but the Mountain Lions scored the next five points over the next 1:02 to take a 74-71 lead with 7:26 to go.  The Falcons got to within one (77-76) two and a half minutes later when Taylor nailed a 3-pointer.  Cam Shannon would knock down a 3-pointer for Concord and Sanchez would score to put NDC down six (85-79) with 3:09 to go.  Taylor would get NDC within three (87-84) at the 1:54 mark and that is as close as the Falcons would get the rest of the way.  Miller would have a huge three-point play with just under a minute to go and Bolte would ice it for Concord at the free throw line.
NDC Coach Tim Koenig summed up the loss:
" We got outworked and outhusled, Concord played great but it was inexcusable from our team today. We will get better." Koenig said.
 NDC will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Wheeling Jesuit to battle the Cardinals. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM.
Other MEC Scores:
West Liberty 93 Glenville State 82
Shepherd 81 West Virginia State 69
Fairmont State 92 Charleston 86
Wheeling Jesuit 85 West Virginia Wesleyan 67
Urbana 88 Virginia Wise 83
MEC Standings:
Fairmont State 19-1 (25-1)
West Liberty 18-2 (24-2)
Wheeling Jesuit 14-6 (20-6)
Shepherd 14-6 (17-9)
Notre Dame College 10-10 (16-10)
West Virginia Wesleyan 9-11 (12-14)
Charleston 8-12 (14-12)
Glenville State 8-12 (11-13)
Urbana 6-14 (11-15)
Concord 6-14 (10-16)
Virginia Wise 5-15 (7-19)
West Virginia State 3-17 (6-20)
Atlantic Region Rankings (Top Eight Teams To Qualify:)
1. Fairmont State
2. Shippensburg
3. Indiana (PA)
4. West Liberty
5. Kutztown
6. Wheeling Jesuit
7. Virginia Union
8. Virginia State
9. Shepherd
10. East Stroudsburg