A Season On The Line.

When the Notre Dame College Falcons and Shepherd Rams meet on Friday evening at the Charleston Civic Center in the Quarterfinals of the MEC Conference Tournament it will be a virtual elimination game that you can see on NotreDameFalcons.com. The winner will advance to play on Saturday, while the loser will see what was a promising season come to a screeching halt. Such is life in March in college basketball.
  The Rams (18-10) were 9-5 both at home and on the road this season.  The last time out they were a 95-80 loser to top ranked Fairmont State. The Rams won both meetings with the Falcons during the regular season, First a one point win in South Euclid, before a seven point win at Shepherd.  The Rams come into the game averaging 77.5 points a game as a team- while they allow 73 points per contest.
  Individually four Rams players average in double figures on the season.  Steffan Davis leads the way at 16.4 points per game- AJ Carr scores 15.6 a contest- Naim Muhhamed scores 12.2 a night- and- Skyler Roman scores 12 a game.  Muhhamed leads the team in assists at 4.6 a night- while Carr leads the team averaging 7.3 rebounds a game.
  NDC (16-12) is coming off a 91-88 loss to Urbana last time out. Will Vorhees scored a school record 48 points in the defeat.  The Falcons like Shepherd have an identical record both at home and on the road, 7-6 for them. As a team the Falcons average 82.8 points a game- while they give up 82.7 a night. They out rebound the opposition by more than three boards per contest (40.8 to 37.4-) and also average 4.9 blocks a night, as opposed to 1.9 for the opposition.
  Vorhees averages a double-double (26.8 points and 10.3 rebounds-) Kyauta Taylor is second on the team in scoring (20.8 per night-) Drew Scarberry had a big second half of the season and averages 10.5 a game (shoots 45 percent from the 3-point line-) Ja'Sean Lewis leads the team in assists at 5.2 a night.
  MEC Opening Round Wednesday:
#7 Glenville State 84 #10 Virginia Wise 66
#8 Charleston 76 #9 Urbana 62
Friday Quarterfinals (At Charleston Civic Center:)
#2 West Liberty vs #7 Glenville State  Noon
#3 Wheeling Jesuit vs #6 West Virginia Wesleyan 2:15
#8 Charleston vs #1 Fairmont State 6 PM
#4 Shepherd vs #5 Notre Dame College 815 PM
Atlantic Region Rankings (Top Eight Qualify For 2017 NCAA Tournament:)
1. Fairmont State 27-1
2. Indiana (PA) 26-2
3. Kutztown 23-2
4. West Liberty 25-3
5. Shippensburg 21-3
6. Wheeling Jesuit 21-6
7.  Virginia Union 22-6
8. Virginia State 20-6
9. Shepherd 18-10
10. East Stroudsburg 16-10