Box Score
Canton, OH -- The Notre Dame College men's basketball team traveled to Canton, Ohio on Friday evening and they were able to come away with a 97-87 victory over the Malone Pioneers at Osborne Hall.
 
The Falcons (8-2) were fueled by some sensational individual performances en route to their eighth victory on the season. Kyauta Taylor led the way in scoring for the Falcons, notching a career high 45 points to go with seven rebounds and four steals. Will Vorhees dominated on the offensive glass, securing nine of his 14 rebounds on that end to go along with 33 points and five assists. And Ja'Sean Lewis nearly turned in a triple-double, compiling 13 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, six blocks and two steals for an incredibly well-rounded performance.
 
The first five minutes of action saw the opposing sides trading baskets. Vorhees was able to establish himself early, as he scored seven of the Falcons first nine points, with Malone holding a narrow 10-9 lead at the 15:00 mark in the first half.
 
Taylor took over the scoring burden from there, scoring the next 11 points for the Falcons and knotting the game up at 20-20 at the 11:45 mark in the first half.
 
The Pioneers responded with an impressive 21-6 run over the next several minutes, nailing five 3-pointers in that span as they took a commanding 41-26 lead with just under 7:00 to go in the half.
 
Despite this 3-point barrage from Malone, the Falcons were able to regroup and make some stops on the defensive end, closing out the half on a 12-4 run and trimming Malone's lead to 45-38 going into the half.
 
The Falcons came out of halftime on fire, scoring the first seven points of the half to again tie the game at 45-45, prompting a quick timeout from Malone.
 
Coming out of the timeout, the Pioneers were able to put together a quick run of their own, scoring the next five points to retake a 50-45 lead.
 
The teams traded baskets for the next few possessions, until the Falcons scored eight consecutive points to give themselves a 57-52 lead with 14:00 remaining in the game.
 
Over the next several minutes, the Pioneers once again got hot from behind the 3-point arc, drilling three 3-pointers as part of a 17-4 run to retake a 69-61 lead with 10:00 remaining.
 
From there, the Falcons clamped down defensively while continuing to ride the hot hands of Taylor and Vorhees. Over the last ten minutes of the game, the Falcons held the Pioneers to 7-24 shooting (29.1%) from the field, while outscoring the Pioneers 36-18 during that stretch.

The Falcons will have some time off before returning to Murphy Gymnasium to take on Mountain East Conference rival Glenville State on 01/03/2017. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM.