Houghton, N.Y. – The Notre Dame Falcons scored over 80 points for the third game in a row and took it to the American Mideast Conference's top rated defense, as they beat the Houghton Highlanders, 83-53, on Friday night. (Box)
The Highlanders (6-8, 1-3) came into the contest as the best scoring defense in the AMC, but could not stop every Falcon on the active roster from scoring at least once. Sophomore #Eric Dummermuth# led the charge for Notre Dame (11-5, 3-0) once again, with his ninth double-double of the season and his third in as many games. The AMC's leading scorer paced the Falcons with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
The Falcons had trouble in the early going, as Houghton held the lead for the first three and a half minutes of the contest. Notre Dame took the lead at the 16:29 mark in the first half on #Nick McCartney#'s first of four 3-pointers on the night and never looked back .
Notre Dame would lead by as many as eight through the next seven-and-a-half minutes, but the Highlanders cut the lead to one at the 8:58 mark on a Jacob Bowman 3-pointer. That was as close as they would get the rest of the night. NDC responded with an 11-0 run, which was capped by Dummermuth's put-back with just over five-and-a-half minutes left in the half, giving the Falcons a 30-18 lead.
At the beginning of the second half, the Highlanders capitalized on a Notre Dame turnover and cut the lead to nine, but the Falcons went on another 11-0 run, and led by double digits through the rest of the contest. The Falcon offense was on fire in the second half. They shot 60.0 percent (6-for-10) from 3-point land and outscored the Highlanders 44-25 in the second stanza.
Dummermuth surpassed the 900-point mark in his career with his 15-point performance. McCartney and #Zach Jacobson# also had double figures, with 14 and 10 points respectively. NDC shot 56.3 percent (18-for-32) from the floor in the second half and shot 52.5 percent (31-for-59) on the evening.
“This was a good team win tonight,” said Head Coach #Kevin Bille#. “Our guys were pretty focused right from the start and got the job done.”
Jacob Bowman paced Houghton with 14 points on the evening while Mark O'Brien and Francis Decker chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively. The loss was the sixth in a row for the Highlanders, who haven't won since Dec. 5.
For the Falcons, Friday's win marked their third in a row. During their three-game win streak, the Falcons are averaging 85 points per contest while shooting 51.3 percent (98-for-191) from the floor.
The Blue and White will return home to Murphy Gymnasium for their next contest on Thursday, Jan. 14. The Falcons will host Shawnee State. Tip-off for the AMC tilt is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
NOTES FROM THE NEST:
NDC AGAINST THE AMC: Friday's contest was the first of 11 consecutive conference games for the Falcons. NDC has one non-conference game remaining on Feb. 9 against Ohio State-Newark. The Falcons will play five of their next 10 games at home, which includes a string of four straight games at Murphy Gymnasium from Jan. 21-28.
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS: With nine rebounds against the Highlanders, center Karim McFarlane became the second player in program history to surpass 700 rebounds in his career. The Portmore, Jamaica, native has tallied 718 boards over his four year career. He is just 10 rebounds away from passing Paul Benjamin (2001-05) for the all-time program lead.
SECURE IN THE 70'S: The Falcons are 10-2 this season when scoring 70 points or more. They've put up 80 or more seven times and passed the 90-point plateau on five separate occasions.
