Box Score SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons won their home opener on Wednesday evening at Murphy Gymnasium, in a 92-87 victory over Ohio Dominican.
For the Falcons (3-0) the victory marks their first 3-0 start since the 2009-10 season, while the loss for the Panthers (2-1) was their first of the season, and their first against the Falcons since Feb. 22, 2012.
Right off the bat, the Falcons caught fire, as they shot the ball extremely well in the first 10 minutes of the contest. Notre Dame never trailed at any point in the contest, though the Panthers stayed well within striking distance in the second half.
Notre Dame once again shot very well, hitting on 52.4-percent (33-for-63) of their shots from the floor.
In the opening three minutes of the contest, the Falcons went on a 10-3 run, nailing four of their first five (80-percent) shots, getting buckets from
Will Vorhees,
Kyauta Taylor and
Ja'Sean Lewis.
The Panthers were able to dive into the deficit, bringing it down to four (21-17) with 10:19 left in the first half, before Notre Dame got hot again, and elevated their lead to double digits (29-19) at the 7:33-mark after a layup from
Marco Colombo.
NDC led by as many as 12 (35-23), but over the final four minutes of the half, the Panthers came back, and narrowed the deficit to three (42-39) at halftime, after a dunk by Trent Weaver in the final seconds of the half.
The beginning of the second half belonged to the Falcons, as they were able to clamp down defensively. During the first four and a half minutes of the half, the Panthers went 0-for-6 from the floor and committed four turnovers, while the Falcons developed their largest lead of the game (53-39) with 15:32 remaining.
Ohio Dominican was able to get it together, and they did the best they could to recover from that difficult start to the second half. Notre Dame had a tough time making their free throws in the second stanza, which also allowed the Panthers to narrow the deficit to one on several occasions.
However, any time the Panthers would get close, the Falcons found a way to pull away. It was a three-point game (90-87) with less than a minute to play, and both team's missed 3-pointers, which forced the Panthers to foul Colombo with 14 seconds left. Colombo made both free throws to give NDC a five-point advantage to seal the deal.
Four Falcons scored in double figures, and they were led by Taylor, who had 23 points, on the strength of a strong night beyond the arc, where he hit 4-of-8 (50-percent) of his shots. Colombo wasn't far behind with 18 point and nine rebounds. Vorhees added 17 points, and
Tyree Gaiter turned in a double-double, with 13 points and 10 assists.
The Falcons are in action again on Saturday, Nov. 21, when they play their Mountain East Conference opener, against No. 3 West Liberty at Murphy Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.
