INSTITUTE, W.Va. – On a cold Wednesday evening, Notre Dame College started the game as hot as they could, however, West Virginia State University put together a comeback that resulted in a Yellow Jackets win, 108-106.

Notre Dame nearly made every shot they took in the first five minutes. Redshirt-senior Will Vorhees scored the first six points for NDC and then redshirt-junior Drew Scarberry hit a three pointer followed by a steal and layup by junior Bruce Hodges III. The Falcons led 11-1 at the 17:25-mark.

Later, Hodges took the ball out of Jeremiah Moore's hands and made the fastbreak layup, leading to a West Virginia State timeout with 14:52 remaining before the half. Notre Dame was still shooting 75-percent and led 20-4.

NDC missed only four shots in the first 10 minutes of action. Vorhees continued to get under the basket and make easy layups while the Falcons brought the energy. Junior Larenz Thurman was fouled behind the three point line and converted three free throws, which put the Falcons on top by 27 points, 41-14, their largest lead.

WVSU began to hit shots with consistency with five minutes to go in the first half, down 25 points. Beginning with a jumper by Moore at the 4:42-mark, the Yellow Jackets went on a 12-3 run, with six points coming from Pat Johnson-Agwu. In that time, the Falcons went cold, going 1-for-10 from the field and missing their first free throw of the half.

At the halftime break, Notre Dame led by 16 points, 58-42. Vorhees led the team with 18 points and seven rebounds. He shot 6-for-8 and went 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Thurman added 15 points and made four threes in the first half. Johnson-Agwu went 5-for-7 for the Yellow Jackets and had 16 points with three steals.

With 18:09 left in regulation, sophomore Halil Parks sunk three free throws. He had gone 5-for-5 from the line over a 30-second span and Notre Dame pushed their lead back to 16 points. With just under 16 minutes to go, Gus Stone missed a shot, leading a rebound by Hodges and a fastbreak layup by Vorhees. That shot gave the Falcons a 75-58 advantage.

West Virginia State University then became the team that had the hot hands. They slowed the pace of the game and went on a 14-4 run over a three minute span from the 14-minute mark until there were 11 minutes left.

A three pointer by Isaiah Noel with just under nine minutes remaining pushed their deficit to two point, 87-85. The next seven minutes became a close battle as Notre Dame kept themselves in front but could not expand the lead.

The game was tied at 92, but the Yellow Jackets grabbed their first lead of the game with 1:38 remaining when Johnson-Agwu made a layup and was fouled. Vorhees fouled out on that play with Hodges already on the bench after fouling out earlier.

Scarberry was fouled while he was taking a three pointer with five seconds left. Down 107-104, he connected on two of the three free throws and a possession later, Thurman could not hit a three pointer at the buzzer.

The Falcons still shot 61-percent in the second half and finished the game with a 59-percent shooting percentage. The team went 27-for-30 (90-percent) from the free throw stripe. Four of the five starters scored in double-digits. Vorhees led the team with 32 points, 11 rebounds and added five assists. Thurman knocked down five threes and totaled 26 points. Hodges added nine points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Johnson-Agwu scored 41 points for WVSU on 88-percent shooting. Moore scored 20 points off the bench and, in total, WVSU scored 45 bench points. The Yellow Jackets shot 58-percent, overall, and 48-percent from long distance.

Notre Dame will come back home to take on the University of Charleston on February 2. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.