Box Score
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- The Notre Dame Falcons advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament with a big road victory on Tuesday evening, defeating West Virginia State, 97-78.

The victory for NDC (11-18, 9-14 MEC) was their second in a row after losing seven straight, and marked their second win over the Yellow Jackets this season. The loss for the Yellow Jackets (13-14, 9-13) snapped a season best, five game winning streak to end their season.

Notre Dame took control from the opening tip by scoring the first four points of the contest.  They hit four of their first six shots on the night, which was a sign of things to come as the Falcons had no problem filling it up.

While Notre Dame never trailed at any point in the contest, the Yellow Jackets stayed well within striking distance for most of the opening half.  WV State was able to tie the game on three separate occasions, and they trailed by just four (22-18) with 8:33 remaining before the Falcons  hit their stride.

Notre Dame began to pull away from that point forward.  They slowly increased their lead over the next few minutes, and developed their first double-digit lead of the contest when Ryan Hickoff buried a 3-pointer with 3:40 left in the half to give the Falcons a 36-25 advantage.

WVSU answered right back though, and scored the next six points to pull within five (36-31), before Notre Dame came right back with a 6-0 run of their own, on the strength of three consecutive layups from Jarvis Huntley. 

NDC went into the locker room with a 42-32 advantage.  They shot the ball well, outrebounded the Yellow Jackets, and more importantly, they were very effective inside on both ends of the floor. Notre Dame registered seven blocks in the opening half, and outscored the Yellow Jackets in the paint, 28-14.

The Falcons suffocated WVSU in the second half, and never allowed them the opportunity to get back into the contest.  The two teams traded baskets for the first few minutes of the second stanza, before the Falcons turned it on. 

NDC was ahead, 52-40, five minutes into the second half, when they went on a 15-3 run over the next two and a half minutes to build a 24-point (67-43) lead, which was capped by Tyree Gaiter's 3-pointer.

From that point forward, the contest was never in doubt.  The NDC lead hovered around 20 points for most of the final 10 minutes, and they never led by any less than 14.  Any time the Yellow Jackets built momentum, the Falcons took it away, and shot the ball very well at the charity stripe in the second half, hitting on 82.6-percent (19) of their 23 free throws in the final 20 minutes.

Lawrence DeArmond had a huge night for the Falcons, scoring 18 of his game high 30 points in the second half, to go along with six assists and seven rebounds.  Geovonte Rose had a monster game for the Falcons.  In addition to scoring 17 points, Rose turned in a double-double with 21 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end.  Huntley finished the game with 18 points and six assists, while Gaiter scored 15 points.  Kalomo Figueroa-Jackson had eight points, and was big on the defensive end with a trio of blocks and two steals.

The Falcons are in action again on Friday, Mar. 7, when they take on the top seeded Hilltoppers of West Liberty, in the quarterfinal round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament, presented by Go Mart.   The game will take place at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, W.Va., and is tentatively scheduled to tip at 6 pm.