INSTITUTE, W.Va. – Notre Dame College uses a second half comeback to cut the West Virginia State University lead to single-digits, but the Falcons ultimately fall to the Yellow Jackets by a score of 98-88, on Wednesday night.

The Falcons (3-6, 1-4 MEC) started the game hot when senior Oliver Megins and redshirt-junior Angelo Cugini hit back-to-back three pointers within the first minute and-a-half of the game.

WVSU (5-4, 3-2), who snapped a three game losing streak, did not waste much time getting themselves back into the game as they scored 10 of the next 12 points. By the 13:38-mark in the first half, a Langston Cooke layup capped a 20-8 run and the Yellow Jackets led 20-14.

West Virginia State put together their second 8-0 run of the first half from the 5:15-mark to the 3:57-mark. Jeremiah Moore knocked down four free throws during the offensive spurt and West Virginia State led 46-29.

WVSU led by 23 at the halftime break (58-35) as they shot the ball at an incredible 61-percent (22-for-36) clip from the field and 60-percent (9-for-15) from three point range.

Ernest Jenkins scored 19 points on 70-percent shooting in the first half and Pat Johnson-Agwu added 10 points and went 5-for-7 offensively, for the Yellow Jackets. Senior Kyauta Taylor had 13 points and four assists and Cugini added 11 points on 83-percent (5-for-6) shooting.

The Falcons dug deep after falling behind by 24 points (64-40) with 16:53 left in the game. Beginning with a layup by freshman Halil Parks at the 12:29-mark, NDC put the pressure on WVSU by going on a 16-6 run. Parks went off for 11 points on that run and with 7:25 remaining, Notre Dame trailed by a score of 78-65.

Down 15 points (86-71), the Falcons cut the deficit to seven points with a 14-6 run. Taylor had five points during the run and redshirt-sophomore Drew Scarberry dunked the ball, twice. Notre Dame trailed by a score of 92-85 with 1:58 remaining. However, the Yellow Jackets pushed their advantage to double-digits again and went on to win by 10 points, 98-88.

"I like the makeup of our guys, but we need to execute and be consistent," head coach Tim Koenig said. "We didn't execute in the first half and especially at the end of the half. We had some open looks in the first half and didn't hit the shots. We're going to handle this adversity straight on and get better from it."

For West Virginia State, Jenkins scored 21 points and made five three pointers, while Johnson-Agwu had 20 points and shot 77-percent (10-for-13). Moore scored 15 points off the bench and Cooke had 12 points and nine assists. As a team, WVSU shot 55-percent (39-for-71) and out-rebounded the Falcons 37-31.

Taylor scored 25 points, dished out eight assists and grabbed five rebounds for NDC. Cugini shot 80-percent (8-for-10) from the field and scored 18 points in 27 minutes while Scarberry added 13 points and six rebounds. In the second half, Parks scored all 18 of his points. Also in the second stanza, the Falcons shot 53-percent and outscored WVSU 53-40.

NDC will come home to play the University of Charleston on December 9. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 4 p.m.