Falcons Fall At Home Wednesday.

The Notre Dame College Falcons got off to a rough start aided by turnovers and missed shots, mounted a bit of a comeback but eventually fell short 98-86 to West Virginia State at Murphy Gym Wednesday night. With the victory West Virginia State improved to 11-7 and 9-4 in the MEC. With the loss the Falcons drop to 5-14 and 3-10 in the MEC.
  Pat Johnson-Agwu led the Yellow Jackets with 25 points on the evening. Isiah Noel chipped in 19- Jeremiah Moore scored 15- and- Robert Fomby added 13 to go along with nine rebounds. The Yellow Jackets shot 48 percent as a team- 25 percent (8-32) from the 3-point line- and- 63 percent (10-16) at the free throw line.  The Yellow Jackets had 16 assists and 16 turnovers.
  NDC was paced by Halil Parks with 26 points. Parks went 13 of 14 at the free throw line in this one.  Kyauta Taylor added 21 points- Drew Scarberry knocked down 3 3-pointer's and scored 14. Oliver Megins added 13- and- Angelo Cugini scored nine to go along with a team leading 13 rebounds. The Falcons shot 43 percent from the field- 33 percent (10-30) from the 3-point line- and- 80 percent (16-20) from the free throw line.  The Falcons won the rebounding battle 46-43. They had 12 assists and 23 turnovers in the defeat.
 When asked about what is emphasized in practice when it comes to breaking the press here is what coach Tim Koenig had to say:
" We need to have better spacing. We need to come back to the ball more often, we need to pass thru the pressure not dribble thru it. The ball can not stick." Koenig said."
 When speaking of the off night shooting from the 3-point line:
" If these guys are open, especially Drew- Ollie- Even Angelo if they have open 3-pointer's I want them to shoot. We had some passed open shots, you only get maybe two of those per possession. We don't want to settle for jump shots though. " Koenig mentioned."
 The Falcons would trail 9-5 early before Taylor would go on a 5-0 run himself to put NDC up 10-9. After a Scarberry basket and a pair of Parks free throws it would be a 14-9 NDC lead at the 12:36 mark of the first half. Then WVSU would counter with a 12-0 run to lead 21-14 after a Johnson-Agwu free throw halfway thru the half. NDC would close to with two (23-21) after a Megins 3-pointer at the 9:11 mark of the first stanza. Over the next four minutes the Yellow Jackets went on a 15-0 run to open up a 15 point lead at the 5:54 mark of the half. The biggest lead of the half would be 18 and it would be 48-33 WVSU at the break.
  Johnson-Agwu had 13 and Moore nine to lead WVSU in the first half. The Yellow Jackets shot 45 percent in the first stanza. They went 3 of 18 (17 percent) from the 3-point line.  They had five assists and four turnovers in the opening half.
NDC was led by Parks  with 13 points in the first 20 minutes. Taylor added seven- while Cugini and Taylor each had a team leading six rebounds. NDC shot 31 percent from the field- 31 percent from the 3-point line- and- 70 percent (7-10) at the free throw line in the first half. Each team had 27
  rebounds.  The Falcons had five assists and 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
  In the second half the Yellow Jackets would stretch the lead to 21 (60-39) after a Johnson-Agwu jam with 15:16 to go. The lead would grow to as many as 27 (70-43) after a Fomby layup at the 13:20 mark. The Falcons would not go away though. After being down 21 (91-70) the Falcons would go on a 8-0 burst and trail 91-78 with 2:39 to go. NDC would get within 10 after a Scarberry 3-pointer at the 1:07 mark but that would be as close as they would get.
When asked about playing with a short bench since all of the injuries this year:
" We have great belief in the personnel that we have. We are only going seven deep right now, we will continue to adapt. Maybe we could go to eight or nine but we will re evaluate that later." Koenig said."
 On his feelings after this one:
" We have played better over the last two weeks. We will put this one behind us and be ready to go on Saturday at Charleston." Koenig said."
NDC will travel to Charleston and play the Golden Eagles in the Civic Center on Saturday. Tip time is set for 4 PM. As always you can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com
Other MEC Scores Wednesday:
Wheeling Jesuit 88 Fairmont State 82
West Liberty 115 Shepherd 78
Concord 94 Glenville State 67
Virginia Wise 61 West Virginia Wesleyan 50
Charleston 54 Urbana 53
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 13-0 (18-0)
Wheeling Jesuit 11-2 (15-3)
Fairmont State 10-3 (14-5)
West Virginia State 9-4 (11-7)
Charleston 7-6 (11-8)
Shepherd 7-6 (11-8)
Concord 7-6 (10-8)
Virginia Wise 5-8 (7-12)
NDC 3-10 (5-14)
Glenville State 2-11 (3-15)
Urbana 2-11 (3-15)
West Virginia Wesleyan 2-11 (2-17)