#5 West Liberty Ends Falcons Playoff Hopes With Wednesday Clinic.

The Notre Dame College Falcons saw its 2017-18 playoff hopes evaporate after #5 West Liberty went wire to wire in a 112-68 win at Murphy Gym Wednesday night. With the win West Liberty improved to 25-1 and 20-1 in the MEC. With the loss NDC fell to 5-22 and 3-18 in the MEC. The win was the seventh straight for the Hilltoppers. While the loss was the Falcons ninth straight.
NDC Coach Tim Koenig summed this one up:
" It was a tough game for us in all assets of the game. That team has been on top of the league year in and year out for a reason. We had way to many turnovers and they had a ton more shot attempts than we did. Obviously we did not shoot the ball well at all tonight." Koenig said."
  On how much the trapping defense of West Liberty bothered the Falcons:
" It is a five man game and I do not want to focus on one spot.  We just need to better collectively as a team. The players need to play better and we need to coach better. " Koenig said.
  Dalton Bolon led six West Liberty players in double figures with 23 points.  Dan Monteroso added 17- Luke Dyer and Jordan Watson added 14- while Evan French netted 12- and- Brandon Smith scored 10.  The Hilltoppers shot 49 percent from the field- 40 percent (17-43) from the 3-point line- and- 69 percent (9-13) at the free throw line.  West Liberty crushed the Falcons on the boards 53-38.  The Hilltoppers had 24 assists and just six turnovers in the victory.
  NDC was led by Angelo Cugini who scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the contest.  Drew Scarberry was the only other Falcon in double figures with 14.  The trio of Halil Parks- Levi Frankland- and- Kyauta Taylor each added eight.  The Falcons shot 38 percent as a team- they shot just 18 percent (5-28) from the 3-point line- and- 85 percent (11-13) at the free throw line.  The Falcons had 14 assists and 17 turnovers in this one.
  West Liberty scored the games first six points.  NDC would have to climb uphill all night.  After a trio of Frankland free throws NDC was behind by five (18-13) at the first media of the game.  The Hilltoppers would then go on a 15-2 run to go up 18 (33-15) after a Bolon 3-pointer at the 11:16 mark of the first stanza.  NDC would cut into the lead and trail by 13 (44-31) after a Scarberry 3-pointer at the 4:38 mark of the half.  NDC would trail 57-39 at the half.
 Bolon would lead the way for the Hilltoppers with 14 in the opening half- while Monteroso added 13.  The Hilltoppers shot 48 percent in the opening half- they shot 42 percent ( 11-26) from the 3-point line.  The Hilltoppers missed the only free throw attempt they had in the opening 20 minutes.  They had a 27-17 edge on the backboards.  The Hilltoppers committed just three turnovers in the half.
  NDC was led by 11 points from Cugini- while Parks added eight in the opening half.  The Falcons shot 50 percent from the field in the opening half- 18 percent (2-11) from the 3-point line- and- 78 percent (7-9) from the free throw line.  The Falcons had eight assists and nine turnovers in the opening stanza.
   West Liberty would stretch the lead to 31 in the first five minutes of the second half.  The lead would grow to as many as 45 on a pair of occassions as the Hilltoppers would cruise to the victory.
 NDC will close the season Saturday at home vs Urbana. Tip time is set for 4 PM at Murphy Gym. As always you can catch the action on NotreDameFalcons.com with Andrew Luftglass on the call.
Other MEC Scores Wednesday:
Fairmont State 71 West Virginia Wesleyan 68
Concord 95 West Virginia State 91
Wheeling Jesuit 90 Urbana 65
Glenville State 72 Shepherd 65
Charleston 73 Virginia Wise 63
Atlantic Region Rankings (Updated 2/21:)
1. West Liberty
2. Virginia State
3. Shippensburg
4. West Chester
5. Indiana (PA)
6. Kutztown
7. East Stroudsburg
8. Wheeling Jesuit
9. Fairmont State
10. Gannon