Box Score SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- The Notre Dame Falcons fell for the first time at home this season, in an 82-66 loss to the University of Charleston on Monday evening.
Notre Dame (8-7, 4-5 MEC) lost for the first time in seven tries at home this season, while the victory for the Golden Eagles (10-4, 5-3) was their sixth in their last seven games .
Charleston controlled the tempo of the contest from the opening tip, as they set the tone early on, and never trailed at any point throughout the contest. Charleston's incredible advantage on the glass also allowed them to maintain their lead, as they outrebounded Notre Dame, 45-30.
Early on, the Golden Eagles shot the lights out, while the Falcons had a tough time making their shots, which allowed UC to develop an early lead. Over the first five and a half minutes of the contest, UC shot 54.5-percent (6-for-11), while the Falcons shot just 27.2-percent (3-for-11) and fell into an early, 21-7 hole.
Over the next six minutes, things didn't get any better for the Falcons, as their shots would not fall. During that stretch, Notre Dame shot just 2-for-12 (16.6-percent) while the Golden Eagles continued to hit their shots, and developed a 29-13 advantage with 8:31 remaining.
Charleston had a 33-18 advantage over Notre Dame with 4:50 left in the half, before the Falcons began to find their stroke, and started to dive into the deficit. Notre Dame made six of their final 10 shots of the half, and brought the deficit down to 10 (42-32).
UC had 13 more rebounds than Notre Dame halfway through (29-16), and they were able to generate a ton of second chance opportunities with 10 offensive rebounds. While the shots didn't fall for NDC in the first half, they did a great job of taking care of the ball, committing just one turnover in the opening 20 minutes, while scoring 10 points off six UC turnovers.
The momentum captured at the end of the first half seemed to carry over into the second half, as Notre Dame received a pair of big 3-pointers from
Oliver Megins and
Lawrence DeArmond, over the first 90 seconds of the half, and NDC narrowed the deficit down to four (42-38) with 18:25 remaining.
However, that was as close as the Falcons would get, as the Golden Eagles responded with 13-0 run over the next five minutes of the contest to take a commanding, 55-38 advantage with 13:18 left to play.
Notre Dame was never able to recover. Charleston led by as many as 21 (72-51) with 6:56 remaining, and while the Falcons were able to draw within 10 at one point, they just weren't able overcome UC's edge on the glass to erase the deficit.
The Falcons did shoot much better in the second half, hitting on 48.3-percent (14) of their 29 shots, which was a 13-percent spike from the opening half.
DeArmond led the way for Notre Dame with 22 points, to go along with three assists and four rebounds.
Jay Banyasz was the only other Falcon to score in double digits, pouring in 12 points to go along with six rebounds.
The Falcons are in action again on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they play host to Glenville State at Murphy Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.
