Tough One To Swallow.

The Notre Dame College Falcons and Shepherd Rams squared off in a MEC tournament game at the Charleston Civic Center Friday night. NDC had a few chances late and could not get over the hump in a 71-68 loss.
  Steffen Davis led Shepherd with 23 points- and AJ Carr added 22 for the Rams. Shepherd shot 35 percent from the floor and 36 percent (10-28) from the 3-point line. Shepherd shot 68 percent (17-25) at the free throw line.  They had 15 assists and 14 turnovers.
  NDC (16-13) was led by a double-double from Will Vorhees (27 points and 11 rebounds.-) Kyauta  Taylor added 22 and Jay Banaysz had 11 for the Falcons. NDC shot 45 percent from the floor- went 6-20 (30 percent-) from the 3-point line and  NDC was 8 of 11 (73 percent) from the free throw line.  NDC won the rebounding battle 46-37.  NDC had 15 assists and 19 turnovers as a team.
  Shepherd jumped out to a 5-0 lead early. The Falcons would eventually tie the game at 14 with 9:17 in the half after a Vorhees basket.  Taylor would nail a 3-pointer with 5:30 in the half to give NDC the lead.  NDC stretched the lead to nine and would eventually lead 31-27 at halftime.
  Shepherd would tie the game at 36 with 15:36 to go.  Shepherd would regain the lead- and NDC would knot the game at 44 with 11:42 to go. The teams would go back and forth for the next few minutes and after a Banaysz layup at the 9:01 mark it would again be knotted at 50.  Shepherd would open up a six point lead (58-52) after a pair of Davis free throws at the 6:37 mark. NDC would battle back once again and tie it at 58 as Vorhees would score all six points capped by a pair of free throws at the 5:07 mark.  Shepherd would run off the next six points and lead 64-58 at the 3:28 mark of the contest.  A pair of Vorhees baskets as well as another Taylor 3-pointer would spark a quick 7-1 spurt and the game would be tied at 65 with 1:44 to go.  After Car split a pair of free throws to give Shepherd a brief lead- NDC would regain the lead on Taylor's sixth 3-pointer of the contest with 48 seconds to go.  Carr would answer with a 3-pointer of his own for the Rams with 32 seconds to go and NDC would call timeout  down one with 26 seconds to go.  The Falcons would get the ball inside and come up empty after a pair of missed free throws.  Davis would make both free throws to put the Rams up 3. NDC would have one last chance but Taylor's off balance three was off the mark.
  Shepherd advances to the MEC Semifinals Saturday at 6 PM where they will take on top seeded Fairmont State.
 NDC's Vorhees was named First Team All Conference and Taylor Second Team All Conference prior to Friday's contest.
Other MEC Quarterfinal Scores:
#2 West Liberty 75 #7 Glenville State 71
#3 Wheeling Jesuit 90 #6 West Virginia Wesleyan 63
#1 Fairmont State 76 #8 Charleston 64
MEC Semifinals Saturday:
#1 Fairmont State93 #4 Shepherd 65
#2 West Liberty 105 #3 Wheeling Jesuit 95
MEC Finals Sunday:
#2 West Liberty 67 #1 Fairmont State 65-