Bobcats Late Surge Sends Falcons To Sixth Straight Loss.

The Notre Dame College Falcons and West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats met Saturday at Murphy Gym. The Bobcats used a 18-5 run in the last eight minutes to get the 62-49 win that would be the fifth straight win for Wesleyan. The Falcons dropped a sixth straight with the loss. NDC is 5-19 and 3-15 in the MEC, The Bobcats improve to 7-17 and 7-11 in the MEC.
Coach Tom Koenig talked about it being anyone's game today:
" It was anybody's game late. At the end of the game they made the plays and we turned it over. You can't win with 21 turnovers. It was probably our best defensive effort of the year. " Koenig said."
  The Bobcats were led by Luka Petrovic who had 15 points and eight steals in this one.  Fred Brondstedt added 12- and- Aaron Ariri scored 10 off the bench for Wesleyan.
 The Bobcats shot 35 percent from the field- 29 percent (6-21) from the 3-point line- and- 67 percent (16-24) from the free throw line.  The Bobcats had seven assists and six turnovers.
Koenig talked about the play down the stretch of Petrovic and Brondstedt:
" Those two guys made the plays for them down the stretch and that was a big difference in the game." Koenig said."
  The Falcons were led by Oliver Megins who tallied a double-double (14 points and 13 rebounds-) while Cole Hayes and Drew Scarberry each scored nine.   The Falcons shot 41 percent from the floor- 23 percent (6-26) from the 3-point line.  They shot 20 percent (1-5) as a team from the free throw line.  NDC won the rebounding battle 41-33.  They had 12 assists and 21 turnovers as a team.
  NDC jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead after a Scarberry layup at the 13:54 mark of the opening half. Then the Bobcats starting pressing, forced some turnovers and went on a 10-0 run capped by a Kam Cooper 3-pointer at the 12:07 mark to give the Bobcats a 12-10 lead.  NDC would score the next five points- then the Bobcats would counter with a 7-0 spurt to go up 19-15.  The rest of the first half would stay tightly played and it would be a 31-25 halftime lead for the Bobcats.
  Brondstedt led the Bobcats with eight in the opening stanza.  The Bobcats shot 32 percent from the field- 25 percent (4-16) from the 3-point line in the half.  They had five assists and three turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
  For NDC Megins led the way with six points and seven rebounds in the first half.  Kyauta Taylor and Angelo Cugini each scored five in the opening half.  NDC shot 41 percent from the field- 18 percent (2-11) from the 3-point line- and- converted the only free throw attempt they had in the opening half.  NDC had a 23-16 advantage on the boards in the first 20 minutes.  They had seven assists and 12 turnovers.
   The Falcons started the second half much like they started the contest as they would go on a 8-0 run to start the half to regain the lead 33-31 with 16:49 to go.  Wesleyan would then go on a 9-0 run before Megins would go on a personal 4-0 run to cut it to 40-37 with 10:59 left.  Petrovic and Megins would trade baskets before the Falcons would knot the game at 42 on a Levi Frankland 3-pointer at the 9:20 mark.  NDC would take the lead on a Megins basket before the Bobcats tied it at 44. NDC would go back on top 46-44 after a Cugini layup with 7:40 to go. The Bobcats would then go on a 16-0 run before Cole Hayes hit a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left.  The Bobcats would gain the season split with NDC with the 62-49 win.
 Koenig talked about the defensive effort today:
" The defense was good today, pretty darn good. We did a good job helping on the bigs today. They made some shots but you can't take everything away." Koenig said."
On Megins:
" We got some good minutes from Ollie off the bench today. Ollie and Angelo did a good job on the glass." Koenig said."
 The Falcons will be back in action Thursday night @Concord. Tip time set for 730 PM. You can catch all the action on NotreDameFalcons.com
Other MEC Scores Saturday:
Virginia Wise 70 Shepherd 63
West Liberty 87 Charleston 65
Fairmont State 86 Concord 80
Wheeling Jesuit 81 West Virginia State 73
Urbana 89 Glenville State 68
MEC Standings:
West Liberty 17-1 (22-1)
Wheeling Jesuit 14-4 (19-5)
Fairmont State 14-4 (18-6)
Shepherd 10-8 (14-10)
West Virginia State 10-8 (12-11)
Charleston  9-9 (13-11)
Virginia Wise 9-9 (11-13)
Concord 8-10 (12-12)
West Virginia Wesleyan 7-11 (7-17)
Glenville State 4-14 (6-18)
NDC 3-15 (5-19)
Urbana 3-15 (4-20)