Box Score SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons fell to the Urbana Blue Knights, 91-88, as
Will Vorhees scores 48 points, a new program record, on Saturday afternoon.
The Falcons (16-12, 10-12 MEC) lost their final three games in the regular season. Notre Dame was 3-7 in their final 10 games. The Blue Knights (12-16, 7-15 MEC) beat Notre Dame for the first time since the 2012 season.
The Blue Knights took an early lead and did not give it up in the first half. Jahmere Howze completed an old-fashioned three-point play at the free throw line, putting Urbana up, 17-9 with 15:35 remaining in the first half.
A layup by
Will Vorhees at the 13:09-mark cut the Notre Dame deficit to two points, 17-15.
The Falcons fell down by as many as 13 points late in the first half, but Vorhees tried to keep his team in the game. He started the game by going 10-for-12 from the field.
Notre Dame trailed 48-40 at halftime. For the Falcons, Vorhees closed the first half with 28 points, shooting 14-for-17. The Falcons shot 56-percent as a team. The Blue Knights had Carlas Jackson with 17 points and DeQuan Abrom who scored 13 points. Urbana outrebounded NDC, 22-15 in the first half.
Urbana continued to pour it on the Falcons early in the second half. They expanded their lead to 18 points, 63-45, after Abrom knocked down a three with 14:43 to go in the game.
Notre Dame went on a 13-3 run as Vorhees had six points and
Kyauta Taylor hit four free throws, during the run. NDC trailed by eight points, 66-58.
A 7-0 run by the Falcons tied the game at 73, with 7:36 remaining in the second half. The game went back-and-forth before Notre Dame took their first lead of the game, 76-75 with 6:25 to go, when
Ja'Sean Lewis put the ball in the basket.
With 49-seconds left, the Falcons were up 87-85, after Vorhees hit another layup. However, Abrom would hit a jumper, for Urbana, to tie the game and then hit a three-pointer with eight-seconds remaining, putting Urbana up, 90-87.
Vorhees set a program record with 48 points on Saturday, the previous record was held by Tyree Gaiter, who scored 44 points, on Feb. 20, 2014.
Vorhees had 20 points in the second half and had 12 rebounds in the game for NDC. Taylor scored all 18 of his points in the second half.
Drew Scarberry had 11 points and Lewis added nine points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
For Urbana, Abrom scored 18 of his 31 points in the second half. Jackson added 28 points and Howze had 19 points and seven rebounds. AJ Washington added five points and 11 boards.
The Falcons will play in Charleston, W.Va. on March 3 as they enter the Mountain East Conference Tournament. They will be the No. 5 seed and will play No. 4 Shepherd University at 8:15 p.m.
