SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – After struggling early against a defensive-minded West Virginia Wesleyan College team that allowed 27 first half points, Notre Dame College began to make shots and wrapped up the day with a 73-61 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Notre Dame (10-4, 6-2 MEC) got off to a quick start, scoring eight points in the first three minutes of the game. West Virginia Wesleyan, a team that allows 71.2 points-per-game, then locked down defensively.

Over four and-a-half minutes, neither team scored before the Bobcats (6-8, 3-5 MEC) found their stroke. Luka Petrovic hit a jumper and a three pointer and Fred Brondsted also knocked down a three, putting WVWC ahead, 11-8, with 12:24 remaining in the half.

Jalen Melvin connected on a three pointer, Wesleyan's eighth successful three ball to that point, which capped a 25-9 run over 12 minutes and gave the Bobcats a 28-17 advantage.

Redshirt-junior Drew Scarberry helped the Falcons start their comeback when he hit a three pointer with 4:57 to go and a minute later, he was fouled behind the three point line. Scarberry made two of three free throws and NDC trailed by six points, 28-22.

In the final five minutes, Notre Dame closed out the half on a 10-4 run and trailed 32-27 at the intermission. Brondsted and Flohr led the Bobcats with six points. Will Vorhees led the Falcons with 10 points and seven rebounds.

"They have a really unorthodox zone that took us some time to figure out because we haven't seen a look like that all year," Vorhees said. "We went into halftime, made our adjustments and figured out what seams to hit and how to get the ball in the middle and get behind the zone and beat it. We executed in the second half."

West Virginia Wesleyan came out of the locker room as hot as they were, at times, in the first half. They knocked down two three pointers and Clay Todd scored after an offensive rebound. WVWC led by 11 points again, 40-29, with 18:07 remaining.

A turning point in the game came after Vorhees rebounded a missed three on one end and scored a layup on the other. The Bobcats' Brondsted received a technical foul after he was upset about his contested three point miss on the previous possession.

At the 17:22-mark, junior Larenz Thurman made both technical free throws to cut the deficit to seven points and Notre Dame never trailed by more than nine points the rest of the way.

Over the next six minutes, NDC put together an 18-8 run and took their first lead since the 13-minute mark in the first half. Vorhees and junior Bruce Hodges III each had four points for NDC during the run and then the Falcons pushed through as Scarberry and sophomore Halil Parks combined to make three consecutive three pointers for NDC. With 11:40 remaining, the Falcons led 51-50.

"I thought the press was big for us in the second half," head coach Tim Koenig said. "Bruce was at the head of the press, up on the ball. It was really good and he turned them over a couple times and it just kind of changed the flow of the game."

Notre Dame would not trail again in the final 11 minutes. They first pushed their lead to double-digits with just under five minutes to go after a three by Thurman. NDC's 12 point victory, 73-61, represented their largest lead of the contest.

The Falcons scored 46 points in the second half and held WVWC to 29. Scarberry connected on three shots from long range and had 10 of his 15 points, in the second half. Thurman and freshman Isaiah Sanders each had 11 points. Hodges did a bit of everything, recording six points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Vorhees finished the game with 22 points, 11 boards and shot 63-percent. The senior from Lima, Ohio came up big around the hoop all day, picking up four offensive rebounds and making shots that swung the momentum.

"We're not the greatest three point shooting team, statistically in the conference, and my three has been a little inconsistent, so I wanted to insert my dominance in the paint," said Vorhees. "And with Angelo (Cugini) hurt, I know for us to win, I have to rebound. That was my mindset and my guards just found me around the rim."

"They've got a lot of length and a lot of size," Koenig mentioned. "That zone is really good, it's tough to get it inside. We were trying to get him the ball inside as much as possible. Sometimes our best offense was to miss a shot and have him go get the rebound. It's not pretty, but he figured it out and made plays."

For W.Va. Wesleyan, Petrovic and Todd both totaled 13 points and three, three pointers. Petrovic also had eight assists and six steals. Dusan Vicentic added 10 points and two steals. The Bobcats did not take a free throw and only grabbed 18 rebounds.

"We had two keys: Outrebound them and defend the three point line and don't give them open threes," Koenig explained. "We did one really well and we didn't do the other really well. I thought they had five or six wide open looks that they just missed. They were really hard to guard when they got into the lane and pitched it out to get a lot of good looks. But it was a make or miss game and we missed a lot in the first half and thank God we put the ball in the hole in the second. Forty-three boards is really good too. That kept us in the game."

The Falcons will travel to take on Shepherd University on January 17. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.