WHEELING, W.Va. – "It's Championship time, baby!"
 
Angelo Cugini erupted the Notre Dame College men's basketball locker room with these four-words of jubilation after the Falcons won 85-67 against Fairmont State in the Mountain East Conference semifinal game.
 
For the second time in two days at the MEC Tournament, NDC had five players score in the double digits, which led to a 22-point win in the quarterfinals and an 18-point victory in the semis. The margin is even bigger considering Notre Dame had a 1-11 record against FSU heading into the 2018-19 season (NDC won earlier this year by six at home).
 
The triumph, which puts the Falcons in the MEC Championship game on Sunday, March 10, against West Liberty, started with a big run in the first half.
 
Fairmont State started the game off with two threes to gain a 6-0 lead, but NDC would go on a 14-4 run to take a lead before the first media timeout of the game. But that was not the biggest run of the first half. The teams battled it out for a while as FSU reclaimed its lead 24-22 with 7:17 on the clock.
 
For the next 5:17 of the contest, Notre Dame would go on a 22-5 run to go up by 15 points. From that point on, over the last 22 minutes of the game, the Falcons lead never dipped below six points. In that big run, NDC made five-straight three point attempts, three coming from Halil Parks, and seven-straight baskets overall.
 
"It was big to see the ball go in," said Bruce Hodges III. "When one of us makes it, it gives us all confidence and we start to get the feeling that things are looking good for the night. It feels good to be on the better end of that run."
 
Things were definitely looking good for Notre Dame as the team tied the MEC Tournament record for most threes in a game with 15. Parks, who made all of his attempts from distance, and Isaiah Sanders led the team with four three-pointers each while Hodges and Larenz Thurman made three apiece.
 
"[Fairmont State] chose to look at our percentages for the year and not guard certain guys," said head coach Tim Koenig. "And those guys stepped up. We always try to play inside out, but more importantly we try to do what makes sense. Today, shooting wide open threes with no one around you made sense."
 
The sixth year head coach, who will be leading his second team into a conference championship game, gave all of the credit to his athletes.
 
"We're prepared for teams to do things like doubling Will and Larenz, but those things are just Xs and Os," Koenig said. "Our players have to go out and execute, and they did. These guys made the right reads to win the game. It's all on the players."
 
The Falcons were performing at one of their highest levels on the offensive end, but it was the defense that seemed to spark Notre Dame throughout the game. Fairmont State was held to just 67 points, which is only the third time this season FSU has scored under 70 in a game.
 
"I thought our defense really ignited our offense," Koenig said. "We made it pretty difficult on them and didn't give them second chances. We limited them to nine offensive rebounds. They're pretty good on the glass so that's great for us."
 
FSU's 29 rebounds tied for its lowest all season long.
 
Isaiah Sanders led Notre Dame with 20 points, making eight of his 12 shot attempts. Hodges (19), Vorhees (17), Parks (12) and Thurman (11) joined Sanders in double digits. Vorhees and Thurman led the team in rebounding with nine and eight, respectively, while Drew Scarberry secured seven boards. Thurman, seven, and Vorhees, five, also led the team in assists.
 
Vorhees's seven field goals moved him up to 316 makes this season, which broke Serger Bonifant's previous mark of 313. It took Bonifant 35 games. Vorhees has only played 29 so far this season.
 
No. 3 seeded Notre Dame will play No. 1 seed West Liberty in the Mountain East Conference Championship on Sunday, March 10, at 4 p.m. History will be made as neither a No. 1 seed nor a No. 3 seed has ever won an MEC Tournament.