OLIVET, Mich. -- On Thursday Notre Dame bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 75-70 victory at Houghton (N.Y.). The Falcons utilized a hot-shooting first half and a balanced scoring attack in running their road record to 3-1 and their overall record to 7-1. The win comes on the heels of a 78-75 overtime loss to St. Vincent (Pa.) on Monday.
Freshman forward Eric Dummermuth (Dover, Ohio) notched 18 points and eight boards to pace Notre Dame. Four Falcons finished the game with double-digits in the scoring column, and NDC posted a rebounding margin of plus-11 (35-24).
In the first half, the Falcons and Highlanders traded baskets throughout much of the early action. Notre Dame opened the period with a 5-0 lead, and then Houghton (2-4) went on a 14-6 run to take a 14-11 lead by the 11-minute mark.
Over the middle minutes of the half, the two teams played evenly. The final 5:48, however, turned out to be pivotal for the Falcons. With six players getting in on the act, NDC made eight of the final nine field goal attempts in the half. They ended the period on a 13-4 run and shot a blistering 64.0 percent (16-for-25) for the opening 20 minutes. That sent the Falcons to their Nielson Center locker room with a 34-26 halftime lead.
In the second half, Notre Dame doubled their lead by the 13-minute mark, when freshman guard Steve Savel (Andover, Ohio) drilled a trey to give the Falcons a 50-34 lead. NDC would lead by as many as 18 points overall and by 14 points as late at the five-minute mark. Houghton finished the game out with a 20-9 run, with the Falcons missing seven of their last eight shot attempts.
The Highlanders were forced to continually foul Notre Dame in an effort to cut into the NDC deficit. The Falcons got to the line 30 times in the second frame, hitting 22 (73.3 percent). Dan Jones (Sr./Niles, Ohio) was Notre Dame's leader at the line for the game; he went 7-of-9 and finished with 15 points.
The Falcons finished the game 25-for-49 from the field (51.0 percent). They held Houghton to a 38.1 percent mark (24-for-63).
Freshman sensation Eric Dummermuth scored his 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and a 6-of-7 mark from the foul line. The Dover High School product has now scored 97 points over his last five games (19.4 points per game). For the season, Dummermuth leads NDC in scoring, at 16.6 points per contest. He is shooting 54.2 percent (52-for-96) from the field and is averaging 7.9 rebounds per game.
The win sends Notre Dame into a season-long seven day lay-off. NDC will be idle until Dec. 12, when they travel to Winona Lake, Ind., to compete in a two-day tournament hosted by Grace College.
