Buckhannon, WV-- The West Virginia Wesleyan Men's Basketball team come into today's contest with a (10-13) overall record and a (7-10) conference record. Notre Dame College comes in with a (17-6) overall record and a (13-4) conference record. The Bobcats are coming off of a big win against Urbana University this past Thursday and looking to carry that momentum into today's match-up.
Before the contest would get underway, the Hall of Fame Inductees would be recognized at center court for all of their accomplishments when they were students or coaches at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
After the pre-game festivities, it would be game time as the starters would be announced from both teams.
The Bobcat defense would be causing chaos right off the bat as they would be getting multiple deflections, it would not phase the Falcons offense as they would score on their first 2 possessions.
With the first 10 minutes of play Notre Dame would rely on the Redshirt Senior Guard, Will Vorhees as he would carry the Falcon offense with 12 of the teams 18 points. The Bobcat defense would need to find a way to slow this Falcon offense down.
Dusan Vicentic would lead the Bobcat offense with 6 points including a 3-pointer to get the lead back to single digits. Notre Dame would be shooting 53.3% from the field (8-15) while the Bobcats would be shooting just 33.3% (4-12).
With 7 minutes left in the first half the Bobcats would cut the lead down to just 2 points as
Daylin Lee would get an and-one basket and a possession later
Clay Todd would hit
Fred Brondsted with a dime for the lay-up.
The Bobcat offense would struggle from behind the arc shooting under 20%, until
Clay Todd would hit a deep three with 4 minutes to go in the first half, bringing the game within 1 point, 22-21.
At the end of the first half the Falcons would go on a 14-3 run bringing the half time score to a 12 point lead (36-24). The Bobcats would be shooting 33.3% from the field in the first half (9-27) opposed to Notre Dame as they would be shooting 51.7% (15-29). Notre Dame would also stay hot from behind the arc shooting 40% (4-10) as the Bobcats would struggle shooting just 23.5% (4-17). The Bobcats will need to shut down Vorhees and come out shooting in the second half in order to get back in this 12 point deficit.
About 4 minutes into the second half the Notre Dame Falcons would take a 20 point lead on the Bobcats as the Falcons would be lighting it up all over the court.
With 12 minutes left on the clock the Bobcats would score on there 4 previous possessions including back to back three's from
Clay Todd &
Daylin Lee, which would give them some momentum to get back in this game.
10:13 left in the game
Luka Petrovic would drive to the basket and pass it back out to
Clay Todd for a three to cut it to a 10 point deficit (50-60). The Bobcats are shooting 64.3% this half (9-14) opposed to Notre Dame shooting 45.5% (10-22). The Bobcats would also find their stroke from three as they are shooting 50% this half (3-6). Notre Dame continues to out rebound the Bobcats 32-19 as they are getting many second chance opportunities off the boards.
Will Vorhees of Notre Dame would continue to be dominate for the Falcons as he has 31 points with just 3 minutes to go. As the Bobcats are down by 16 points, they need to find a way to slow the Falcons down.
At the end of the contest, the Falcons offense would be too much for the Bobcats as the final score would result 85-68
Today's Bobcat highlight players of the game are
Daylin Lee with 17 points & 5 rebounds,
Fred Brondsted with 13 points,
Luka Petrovic with 15 points, 9 assists & 7 rebounds and
Clay Todd with 12 points, 3 assists & 3 steals. Notre Dame would shoot just under 50% from the field the entire game as the Bobcats would shoot 43.1%.
The Bobcats will be back in action next Wednesday as they take on nationally ranked West Liberty University in an away match-up, tip off 7:30 PM.
