Just One Of Those Nights.

The Notre Dame College Falcons have had a tough year but on this night nothing went there way. In the end the Falcons suffered a 100-62 thrashing at Charleston on Saturday. With the win the Golden Eagles improved to 12-8 overall and 8-6 in the MEC. The Falcons dropped to 5-15 overall and 3-11 in the MEC.
 Charleston was led by five players in double figures. Riley Heatherington and Austin Howard each scored 16 points. Heatherington added a team leading 12 rebounds. Kier Anderson scored 13- Anton Ivy added 12- and- Lamont McManus had 10. The Golden Eagles shot 60 percent from the field- 50 percent (11-22) from the 3-point line- and- 69 percent (9-13) at the free throw line.  The Golden Eagles crushed the Falcons on the boards 45-27.  Charleston had 22 assists and eight turnovers.
  NDC struggled shooting for the second straight game. They shot 34 percent from the field- 34 percent (11-32) from the 3-point line. They shot a solid 73 percent (11-15) at the free throw line.  The Falcons had 11 assists and 10 turnovers.
 Levi Frankland returned from injury and led the Falcons with 17 points on Saturday- while Kyauta Taylor added 16. Jack Kelsheimer and Drew Scarberry added nine points each. Angelo Cugini had a team leading nine rebounds- while Oliver Megins led the team with six assists.
 The Falcons were without the services of Halil Parks on Saturday as he went thru concussion protocol. The Golden Eagles started out the gate by scoring the game's first seven points. NDC would trail 13-8 at the first media timeout. After a Kelsheimer 3-pointer it would be a 16-14 Falcons deficit at the 12:47 mark of the first half. NDC would stay within two (23-21) before a 8-0 Golden Eagles run made it 31-21 at the 9:35 mark after a Gibson 3-pointer. NDC would trail by 17 (43-26) before a mini NDC run cut it to 11 (45-34) after another Frankland 3-pointer. The last four points went to the Golden Eagles including a dunk right before the halftime buzzer that stretched the margin to 15 (49-34.)
  Howard had 16 and Heatherington 10 to lead Charleston in the opening half. They shot 53 percent from the field- 47 percent from the 3-point line- and- 75 percent (6-8) at the free throw line.  The Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle 22-16 in the first 20 minutes. They had 10 assists and five turnovers.
  NDC was led by Taylor and Frankland with 10 points each. They shot 37 percent from the field- 44 percent from the 3-point line- and- 83 percent (5-6) at the free throw line.  They had seven assists and six turnovers in the opening half.
 After a Cugini free throw the Golden Eagles went on a 9-0 run to stretch the lead to 23. The Falcons would get no closer than 18 the rest of the way. The Golden Eagles would lead by as many as 44 in this one.
 Coach Tim Koenig summed up this one:
" It was a tough night. Tough night on both ends of the court. We had some good looks but just missed a lot of shots. They crushed us on the boards but most of there rebounds were on the defensive end." Koenig said."
Koenig added:
" As a team we need to get better defensively. We need to stick together and work together. We also need to keep people out of the paint."
" Nothing comes easy for this team. We will get back at it Monday and get ready for our next long road trip next week. " Koenig mentioned.
The Falcons will be back in action Thursday when they travel to take on Shepherd. Tip time is set for 7:30 PM and you can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com
Other MEC Scores:
Virginia Wise 89 Glenville State 87 (OT)
Shepherd 99 Wheeling Jesuit 88
West Virginia State 94 Urbana 79
West Virginia Wesleyan 61 Concord 52
Sunday: Fairmont State 98 West Liberty 97
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 13-1 (18-1)
Wheeling Jesuit 11-3 (15-4)
Fairmont State 11-3 (15-5)
West Virginia State 10-4 (12-7)
Charleston 8-6 (12-8)
Shepherd 8-6 (12-8)
Concord 7-7 (10-9)
Virginia Wise 6-8 (8-12)
NDC 3-11 (5-15)
West Virginia Wesleyan 3-11 (3-17)
Glenville State 2-12 (3-16)
Urbana 2-12 (3-16)