This Week: After defeating Wheeling University, on Wednesday, Notre Dame College men 's basketball will face the No. 1 seed University of Charleston in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament, on March 8. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W.Va.
 
Tournament Central: A full day of men's basketball began at noon, on Friday. The winner of the NDC-UC matchup will play at 6 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of the West Virginia State vs. Fairmont State game. For more information, and to buy tickets, click here.
 
Records: NDC has now won at least 15 games in three consecutive seasons. Currently, the Falcons sit at 15-13 in the 2023-24 campaign, after beating Wheeling for the third time this season. Charleston will play its first game of the tournament on Friday, after ending the regular season with a 24-4 record.
 
Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in year five with the Falcons and has a coaching record of 64-69. Dwaine Osborne has been at Charleston for 11 seasons, putting together a record of 215-101.
 
Rankings: Charleston is No. 12 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II top 25 poll. According to the NCAA Regional Rankings, UC is third in the Atlantic Region. The top eight teams from each region earn a bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 
Series History: Back on Jan. 13, in Charleston, the Golden Eagles beat the Falcons, 98-79. In South Euclid, on Feb. 14, UC defeated Notre Dame, 86-67. In the all-time series, which began in the 2013-14 season, Charleston has a 17-4 record against NDC. The last two wins that Notre Dame has had against the Golden Eagles both took place in South Euclid, back in February 2019 and February 2023. These two teams have never met in the conference tournament.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame had to come from behind to beat Wheeling in the First Round game, on Wednesday. Wheeling held the lead for 28:50 of the contest, while NDC only had the lead for 7:11, but were in front when the final buzzer rang. The lead shifted back-and-forth between the two teams 12 times over the second half and overtime period. Andre Harris hit a layup, stole the ball and went back to hoop for a layup to give NDC an 86-84 lead with 48 seconds to go in regulation. But, Wheeling's Sean Ealy hit two free throws to send the game into overtime. In overtime, Wheeling led by four points, with less than a minute remaining. Trent Williams knocked down a three and on the next possession, RJ Ogom grabbed an offensive rebound and tipped the ball in to give NDC the lead, 99-98, with 21 seconds left. The Falcons won the game by a score of 100-98. Harris scored a career-high 30 points, Gbolahan Adio added 20, while both Devin Haid and Joshua Dames scored 16.
 
In the first game against Charleston this season, Notre Dame got off to a very slow start through the first half. The Falcons bounced back and shot 53-percent from the field in the second half and scored 54 points in the final 20 minutes, but they fell by a final score of 98-79. Andre Harris and Devin Haid both scored 17 points in that game. In the second game of the season series, the Falcons started slow in the first half, as well, shooting 30-percent from the field in the first half, but only trailed by 12, 42-30, at halftime. The Falcons scored 37 points in the second half, but Charleston won that game, 86-67, Harris led the Falcons in scoring, again, with 17, while Devin Haid added 16.
 
Devin Haid leads NDC this season, and ranks eighth in the Mountain East Conference, by scoring 15.8 points per game. He is in the top-5 in the conference in field goal percentage (49.7-percent) and is seventh in free throw percentage (83.5-percent). RJ Ogom is right behind him with a free throw percentage of 81.7-percent. Andre Harris is fourth in the conference, grabbing 7.2 rebounds per game. Gbolahan Adio leads the team with 2.6 assists, while Haid dishes out 2.4 per game. Haid also ranks seventh in the MEC with 1.4 steals per game.
 
As a team, Notre Dame is fourth in the conference with an averaging scoring output of 83.4 points per game. The Falcons are in the top-5 in the MEC three pointers made per game, with nine. NDC ranks fifth in the MEC with 14.71 assists per game and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.04. They also rank in the top five in blocked shots per game (4) and steals per game (7.29). On the boards, Notre Dame grabs 39.1 rebounds per game, which is fifth-best in the conference, and the Falcons are very good on the offensive glass, grabbing 13 per game, which ranks second in the league.
 
Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston last played on March 2, at West Virginia State to end the regular season. The Golden Eagles were stunned in an 83-66 loss to the Yellow Jackets. UC was held to 28 first half points but only trailed West Virginia State by six, after 20 minutes. The Yellow Jackets then shot an incredible 16-for-27 (59-percent) from the field in the second half, pouring in 49 points to outscore UC, 49-38, in the second stanza. Eddie Colbert III led the team with 18 points, while Dwaine Jones added 17 points, six rebounds and six assists. Keaton Turner scored 11 points.
 
Eddie Colbert III ranks fourth in the MEC in points per game, with 17.6. He leads the league in field goal percentage (52.5-percent) and is third in free throw percentage (84.3). He is also 10th in rebounds per game, with six. DeAirius Barker ranks second in the MEC with an 85.9-percent free throw percentage and is 10th in three-pointers made per game, with 2.1. Dwaine Jones leads the league in assists per game (6.1) and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.4). Shunta Wilson ranks sixth in the MEC with 1.2 blocks per game.
 
After the regular season, Dwaine Osborne was named Mountain East Conference Coach of the Year and Eddie Colbert III is the Player of the Year. Colbert and Tyler Eberhart were named All-MEC First Team. DeAirius Barker earned All-MEC Second Team and Dwaine Jones was named Honorable Mention.
 
As a team, Charleston does a lot of things well. On the offensive side, they rank third in points per game (86.1), second in margin of victory (plus-14.2), first in field goal percentage (51.6-percent), first in three-point percentage (39.1-percent), fourth in three-pointers made per game (9.3), first in free throw percentage (76.9-percent) and second in assists per game (17.18). On the defensive side, Charleston leads the MEC in opponent points per game, at 71.9 points per game, and they lead the league in opponent three-point percentage, at 32.2-percent.
 
In the national rankings, UC leads the country in field goal percentage, ranks sixth in Division II in scoring margin, 15th in three-point percentage and 17th in assists per game. Dwaine Jones is fifth in NCAA Division II in assists per game and seventh in both total assists (171) and assist-to-turnover ratio.