SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College continued to mesh on Wednesday, as players came back from early season injuries. The additions to the lineup helped the Falcons put together a solid first half, shooting 58-percent. But, in the second half, Glenville State College put together a comeback and won, 87-79.

Seniors DeAnthony Owens and Drew Scarberry were inserted into the starting lineup in the hope of giving NDC a boost. Because of injuries, Owens had yet to play a game and Scarberry had missed the previous three contests.

"It's almost like starting over with [Owens] and Jacob Sala playing for the first time," head coach Mark Richmond said. "We'll continue to get better and those guys will find their roles. It changes other people's roles, too. We're a work in progress. People are still learning what we need them to do and when we need them to do it. I was disappointed in the loss, but happy with their effort."

The first four points of the game came from Owens, who made a jump shot off an assist by senior Bruce Hodges III and then stole the ball and had a wide-open dunk at the other end. Sophomore Levi Frankland hit a three before Owens knocked down another shot, making the score 9-2 in favor of the Falcons.

"DeAnthony is definitely a bright spot," Richmond said. "I thought he got a little tired down the stretch there, but he's going to help us."

Senior Larenz Thurman then took the torch and had the hot hand. He would either score, or assist, on the next nine NDC points. Notre Dame pushed their lead to eight points, 18-10, with 12:04 remaining in the first.

Over the next two minutes, Owens would sink a three-pointer and then split a pair of free throws, swelling the lead to double-digits, 22-12.

The Pioneers offense, which averages over 100 points per game, began to wake up. A 12-2 run by Glenville State had the game tied at 24, with 6:19 remaining before halftime. From that point until halftime, the Falcons did not relinquish the lead, but also could not expand their lead over seven points.

"We talked all week about taking care of the ball and that [Glenville State] is going to be aggressive," Richmond mentioned. "Every game Glenville has played in, there has been a stretch where the other team lost their poise and Glenville runs eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 points off them. That happened again tonight. Their pressure tires you out over time."

In the final minute of the first half, a layup by Phil Bledsoe and a three pointer by Rodney Ray, pulled the Pioneers within one point of the Falcons, 38-37, going into the locker room.

Owens had 21 points in the first 20 minutes and shot 8-for-10 from the floor. Thurman added seven points, making three of his four shot attempts, and dished out three assists. For Glenville State, Hagel Augustin had nine points, Bledsoe had eight points and Ray added nine points, off the bench. The Pioneers shot 50-percent.

Glenville State grabbed their first lead of the contest when Bledsoe opened up the second half scoring with a three.

In the opening three minutes of the second stanza, the game featured four lead changes. That was until the Falcons, leading 47-46, posted a 9-2 run. That gave the home team an eight-point advantage, 56-48, with 14:47 to go in the game.

Slowly cutting down NDC's lead, Glenville State used strong three-point shooting for a stretch between the 11:30-mark and the 9:06-mark. Tyvon Taylor knocked down two threes while Seth Fallon hit one, closing the deficit to one point.

Almost a minute later, Bledsoe knocked down two free throws and gave GSC the lead, at 67-66. Then, a 12-2 run pushed the Pioneers out in front by a score of 79-68, with just 4:18 remaining. The Falcons struggled to maintain possession, with five turnovers during that run.

After the game, Richmond said the number of offensive rebounds allowed really hurt the Falcons, and that led to some of the miscues.

"I was disappointed in our rebounding," Richmond said. "[The total rebounding numbers] finished even, but they got 15 timely offensive rebounds. I thought that was the difference in the game, some of those offensive rebounds that they got late. That's when we started pressing, after they started executing down the stretch, and we started throwing the ball around a little too much."

Despite that, the coach knows the team must continue to grow together, while individual players find their rhythm.

"We just have to get everybody on the same page and playing well together."

Thurman tried to bring the Falcons back into the game, with two late free throws and a three pointer. NDC trailed by just six points, 79-73, with 1:34 remaining. However, that was as close as the Falcons could get and Glenville State knocked down free throws in the final minute.

Thurman finished with 27 points, on 64-percent shooting, with five rebounds and five assists. Owens finished with 23 points, on 56-percent shooting. Frankland shot 70-percent, hit five 3-pointers and totaled 19 points. NDC shot 55-percent for the game, which is second-best this season, and they shot 40-percent from three-point range, also second highest in 2019.

For Glenville State, Bledsoe had 21 points and nine rebounds. The Pioneers had 12 steals in the game, with 11 of them coming from Augustin (4), Steven Verplancken (4) and Taylor (3). Taylor, Ray and Fallon all scored in double-digits off the bench, accumulating 33 bench points. GSC finished with a 49-percent field goal percentage.

Notre Dame will travel to Concord University this weekend, to battle the Mountain Lions on December 7. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.