Box Score CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In their final road game of the year, the Notre Dame Falcons fell in the final seconds to Charleston in another tight contest, dropping a 74-73 decision to the Golden Eagles.
For the Falcons (14-13, 10-11 MEC) the loss was their second straight, while for the Golden Eagles (18-9, 12-9 MEC) the victory completes a season sweep of the Falcons and was their second in their last three games.
Notre Dame was very active on the offensive glass for the second night in a row, getting 15 second chance points on 10 offensive rebounds, but they had a tough time getting their 3-pointers to fall, as they hit on just 21.7-percent (5-for-23) of their shots from beyond the arc.
Both teams shot the ball exceptionally well at the beginning of the game. While Charleston scored the first four points of the contest, Notre Dame followed by scoring nine of the game's next 10 points to take a 9-5 lead at the 16:17-mark on a layup from
Tyree Gaiter.
The game remained close through the opening 10 minutes of the game, while both teams shot the ball extremely well. Notre Dame hit on 10 (58.8-percent) of their first 17 shots of the night and found themselves ahead, 20-12, after another Gaiter layup with 12:27 remaining.
Notre Dame's aforementioned eight point lead was the largest over the first 15 minutes of the half, but the Golden Eagles came storming back, as they followed Gaiter's layup with a 9-0 run to take a 21-20 advantage.
Modest runs were exchanged by both sides over the final 10 minutes of the opening half, which didn't allow for either team to establish a large advantage. Notre Dame led by as many as six through the rest of the half while the Golden Eagles led by as many as five.
The Falcons scored the final five points of the half, and Gaiter hit a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds of the half, to knot things up at 35-35, which was the score at the break.
Over the first five minutes of the half, the lead changed hands five times. Charleston took the lead just over five minutes into the second stanza, and went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to take an eight point (56-48) lead with 11:50 remaining.
Notre Dame began to battle back, hitting 5 of their next 7 shots to cut the deficit to two (59-57) with 8:37 remaining. Three minutes later,
Lawrence DeArmond grabbed an offensive rebound, and his put back tied the game, 64-64, which was right in the middle of a 9-1 NDC run. The run was capped by a 3-pointer from
Will Vorhees to give NDC a 69-64 advantage with 3:29 to play.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Charleston scored the next seven points of the contest to take a 72-69 lead with just 1:19 left.
Gaiter hit a pair of free throws to bring the deficit down to one (72-71) with just inside of a minute left, but Cameron Dozier hit a layup with 25 seconds remaining, to make it 74-71, Golden Eagles. NDC could not convert on their next offensive possession, but DeArmond came away with a steal with five seconds to go, and was quickly fouled.
DeArmond made both free throws, and the Falcons quickly fouled on the ensuing possession. With four seconds left, Chris Evans missed his free throw for the Golden Eagles, and Gaiter's 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.
The Falcons had three in double figures, including DeArmond who turned in a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Vorhees added 18 points and five rebounds, while Gaiter finished the night with 17 points and four assists.
The Falcons will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 28, when the host Urbana at Murphy Gymnasium. They will honor their four seniors, DeArmond,
Connor Deckard, Rahpi Tekie and
Ryan Lederman on Senior Day, and tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
