Box Score
URBANA, Ohio -- The NDC duo of Tyree Gaiter and Lawrence DeArmond combined to score 68 of Notre Dame's 85 points in their regular season finale on Saturday afternoon, as they defeated Urbana, 85-76.

The victory for NDC (10-18, 8-14 MEC) snapped a season long, seven game losing streak, and marked their first win on the road since defeating then No. 1 West Liberty, 89-87, back on Jan. 30. The loss for the Blue Knights (0-26, 0-22) brings an end to a heartbreaking regular season, where they came close to winning on several occasions, but finished without a victory.

Despite the victory, Notre Dame will still have to go on the road in the first round of the Mountain East Conference tournament on Tuesday.  The Falcons have secured the ninth seed, and will face off against West Virginia State on Tuesday night.

Both teams had trouble filling it up over the first eight minutes of the half.  Notre Dame made good on just 23.0-percent (3) of their first 10 shots, and Urbana didn't fare much better, also making just three (30.0-percent) of their first 10 shots of the opening eight minutes. 

While Notre Dame held an early lead, Urbana stole it quickly just a couple of minutes into the game, and they would eventually elevate their lead to seven (18-11) just inside the 10-minute mark, before the Falcons came roaring back.

Notre Dame scored eight out of the next 11 points to cut into the lead, and they eventually tied the game at 27-27 with just under three and a half minutes left on DeArmond's layup.  With 26 seconds to go in the half, DeArmond struck again with another layup to give Notre Dame its first lead in nearly 18 minutes, one they would hold onto for the remainder of the half as they went into the break ahead, 32-31.

The Falcons hit a long distance lull in the opening half, missing on all eight of their shots from beyond the arc, but despite that, they were able to recover from their shooting woes early on, and shot 38.9-percent (14-for-36) from the floor in the opening half.  Urbana's shooting woes continued through the half, shooting just 29.7-percent (11-for-37) from the floor.

Despite their struggles from long distance early on, the Falcons made up for it in the second half, as they connected on 73.3-percent (11-for-15) of their shots from beyond the arc in the second stanza, which was a big key in closing out the Blue Knights over the final 20 minutes.

Urbana was red hot to start the second half, as they hit four out of their first six shots and went on a 10-2 run over the first two and a half minutes of the second stanza to take an eight point (42-34) lead. 

Once again, Notre Dame battled back, and Gaiter led the charge.  He scored NDC's first eight points of the second half, and he hit a pair of 3-pointers, while DeArmond hit the other in NDC's 9-0 run to give the Falcons a 43-42 lead with 16 minutes remaining.

The game changed about halfway through the second half.  The game was tied at 54-54, when Gaiter got hot once again.  He hit another 3-pointer at the 10:43-mark, which kick started a 16-4 run for the Falcons. Gaiter scored 10 points during that stretch, while DeArmond scored the other six on the strength of a pair of 3-pointers, and the Falcons took their largest lead of the game (12), 70-58, with just over eight minutes left.  The Blue Knights never recovered.

Gaiter had a game high, 37 points on the afternoon, on the strength of a 5-for-8 (62.5-percent) shooting performance from 3-point land, and he added six rebounds, three steals and three assists.  DeArmond had a huge night as well, scoring 28 points on the night, hitting on 50.0-percent (4-for-8) of his shots from beyond the arc, and led the team in rebounds with 11. Ryan Hickoff also added 10 points.

The Falcons are in action on Mar. 4, at West Virginia State for the first round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament.   The game is tentatively scheduled to tip at 7 pm.