Falcons making first trip to D-II tournament

WHEELING, W.VA. >> The Notre Dame College Falcons came to this city on the Ohio River to make history for the school’s men’s basketball program.

The history made was impressive.

The No. 2 seed Falcons beat No. 1 seed West Liberty University, 100-96, on March 10 in the championship game of the Mountain East Conference men’s tournament at WesBanco Arena.

It is the first postseason tournament title for the NDC men since the program was launched in 2001.

With the tournament title came an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II men’s tournament.

This will be NDC’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament.

The Falcons are the sixth seed in the Atlantic Region and will play Virginia State in the first round March 16. The game will be played at Indiana (Pa.).

“You do all that work in practice, study table and watching video, hundreds upon hundreds of hours, and in the blink of an eye, you’re going to the NCAA tournament.” said NDC coach Tim Koenig as his players celebrated around him on the arena floor.

“This is unbelievable, just unbelievable,” Koenig added, shaking his head and smiling. “We had a goal. We had a dream. We were driven to win this tournament and go to the NCAA tournament. The players bought in and made it a reality.”

Senior forward Will Vorhees, the MEC player of the Year, had a monster game for the Falcons. The 6-foot-7 Lima native finished with 29 points and game-high totals of 14 rebounds and eight assists.

Vorhees was 11-of-19 from the field, 6-for-6 from the free throw line and solid as a rock in the game’s closing minutes as the Hilltoppers made a late push. He was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“This is my favorite accomplishment,” Vorhees said, looking down at the tournament championship trophy cradled in his arms.

NDC beat No. 5 seed West Virginia State, No. 2 seed Fairmont State and West Liberty to earn that trophy. Vorhees’ contributions in the tournament run included 69 points, 34 rebounds and 16 assists.

“We knew we could do this,” Vorhees said. “What you can’t predict is how it

feels when the goal is realized. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

NDC improved to 23-8 with the win. West Liberty, the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region, slipped to 26-4. The Hilltoppers will make the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid.

The Falcons beat the Hilltoppers in their own backyard. West Liberty’s campus is eight miles from downtown Wheeling. The lion’s share of 3,781 fans in the seats were there to root for the Hilltoppers.

“West Liberty is so good, if we don’t play a perfect game, we probably don’t win,” Koenig said.

As good as Vorhees was, this was anything but a one-man show.

Junior guard Brice Hodges III scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Junior point guard Larenz Thurman put in 17 points and had five assists before an ankle injury sent him to the bench with eight minutes remaining in the second half.

Hodges and Thurman joined Vorhees on the alltournament team.

Sophomore guard Halil Parks added 16 points. Junior forward Drew Scarberry and freshman guard Isaiah Sanders each added eight points.

An emphatic dunk by Sanders off a nifty feed from Vorhees gave the Falcons a 96-93 lead and deflated the Hilltoppers.

Freshman guard Yahel Hill, a Cleveland Heights High School product, netted a game-high and career-high 44 points for West Liberty.

NDC led at halftime, 51-46, and stayed ahead through most of the second half. Hill made a layup with 2:53 remaining to give the Hilltoppers a 9190 lead.

The Falcons rallied after that to again seize the lead, this time for good.