Vorhees leads both sides of ball in NDC victory

Numbers told the story of the Notre Dame College men’s 78-53 win over Shepherd (W.Va.) University on Feb. 8 at Murphy Gymnasium.

The Falcons raced to a 13-0 lead to open the first half, then answered a Shepherd rush early in the second half with a 12-0 run to effectively settle matters.

Put those two runs together and you’ve got the final margin of an impressive win that upped NDC’s records to 15-8 overall and 11-4 in the Mountain East Conference.

NDC senior forward and first-team Division II AllAmerica candidate Will Vorhees posted game-high totals of 31 points and 20 rebounds.

Vorhees came in averaging 25.9 points and 11.0 rebounds, both second in the MEC.

“It’s always a good thing to score, but it’s come to the point where that’s expected,” Vorhees said. “So, definitely, the 20 rebounds is at least as satisfying.”

Junior point guard Larenz Thurman added 13 points for the Falcons. Thurman accounted nine points in the game-opening 13-0 burst, making three 3-pointers.

The former Cuyahoga County Community College standout also played a spotless floor game with four assists and zero turnovers in 34 minutes.

“We’ve said all season we feel like we have the best D-2 point guard in the country,” Vorhees said of Thurman.

NDC coach Tim Koenig raved about his team’s performance on defense.

The Rams were averaging 77.9 points per game.

“That’s a good team. This was our best defensive effort of the season,” Koenig said.

Junior guard Thomas Lang, Shepherd’s leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, was held scoreless and missed all 10 attempted fielders while being hounded by NDC junior guard Bruce Hodges III.

Vorhees checked 6-6 junior forward Winston Burgess (15.7 points) and limited him to four points. NDC’s Halil Parks shadowed Shepherd junior guard Derek McKnight (15.6 points), who was 1-of-8 from the field and scored four points.

Third-place NDC will carry an eight-game home winning streak into the Feb. 9 game at Murphy Gymnasium against second-place Fairmont (W.V.) State University (16-4, 13-2 MEC).

Fairmont beat NDC, 9786, on Jan. 19