SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Murphy Gymnasium has been a special place for the men's basketball team for quite some time. Notre Dame College defeated Davis & Elkins College by a score of 74-60, on Saturday, representing their seventh home win of the season. The Falcons have now won at least seven home games in eight of the last 10 campaigns.

"You can always protect your home court and I think being at home is a huge advantage for anybody, especially when you get big crowds and atmospheres, like we do here," said Head Coach Mark Richmond. "I'm thankful for that and I appreciate the Notre Dame fans and the students who come out."

Looking to defend the home court, sophomore Levi Frankland scored 10 of the Falcons' first 15 points and even assisted on a basket early in the game. He would finish the first half with 19 points, on 7-of-8 shooting.

"I was just taking what they were giving me, I wasn't trying to force anything," Frankland said. "If I had an open shot, I was shooting it. Wasn't anything different from what we've been doing. Tonight, it worked out like that."

"For whatever reason, we haven't gotten off to a great start, especially on the road these last couple of games," Richmond mentioned. "We wanted to start fast and I thought we did that tonight."

Notre Dame's ball movement was stellar to start the game, as seven of the first 10 NDC field goals had an assist credited to a player. By the 11:33-mark in the first half, Notre Dame had jumped out to a 27-11 advantage over the Senators.

"A lot of our offense is predicated off of reading the defense," said Drew Scarberry, who had two of the Falcons 10 first half assists. "[D&E] was denying hard on the perimeter, so when [the guards] would come for a handoff or for a pick-and-roll, those throws over the top for the backdoors were wide open. [D&E] was switching everything, so the skip passes were always open, which is the key to getting that lead in the first half. Credit to my teammates for cutting."

A 6-0 run between the 4:59-mark and the 2:55-mark in the first half pushed the NDC lead to 24 points, 42-18, which would be the largest of the game for either team. At halftime, the Falcons were shooting 50-percent from the field, and led 44-28.

Notre Dame took advantage of Davis & Elkins' mistakes in the first 20 minutes. The Falcons had six steals and scored 17 points off of the Senators' 12 turnovers. Along with Frankland's scoring burst in the first half, senior Daniel Lott also went over his season average in the first half, scoring nine points on 3-of-5 shooting.

The Falcons' lead hovered around 15-to-18 points in the first five minutes of the second half. But Davis & Elkins put together their first major run of the contest. Beginning with 14:26 on the clock, Erkam Kiris went on his own 7-0 run with two layups and a three pointer. He also stole the ball during that run.

The Senators were not done yet, as Myles Monroe hit a layup and Tyler Twyman knocked down a three pointer to cap the 12-0 run. With 10:34 remaining in the game, the NDC lead was down to five points, 54-49.

"I thought we let them get a quick ten there, late in the first half," Richmond said. "That gave them a little bit of momentum going into the second half. For the first 16 minutes of the first half, we held them to 16 or 18 points. I was proud of the way we came out, got a little lackadaisical and what bailed us out tonight were the charges that we took. They took, probably, 10 or 12 points off the board for them, so I thought that was key."

Two made free throws with 9:01 on the clock cut the D&E deficit to four points, 57-53. The visitors had the ball, again, after a missed Notre Dame shot. That's when senior Bruce Hodges III stole the ball, which led to a three pointer by Scarberry.

Not only did that three-pointer come at an opportune time for the team, but it also represented Scarberry's 300th career three point field goal. He is one of three players in NDC history to hit that mark. After hitting two tonight, he sits at 301 for his career, tied for second place.

"It's amazing and humbling for me," Scarberry said. "All the credit goes to the teammates who I've had. K.T. [Kyauta Taylor], I'm tied with him right now, he was a great player. Will Vorhees, Larenz Thurman and Bruce [Hodges III]. All these great players who I've played with and all the credit really goes to them. Also, having coaches who put me in position to execute and get those open shots. It's humbling and exciting to hit that mark."

Senior Deanthony Owens knocked down a three on the next NDC possession to push the lead back to double digits, 63-53. When the Senators cut the lead to six, Scarberry stepped up again with a three pointer. He would finish with 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals.

Notre Dame outscored Davis & Elkins 8-1 in the final 3:29 of the game, largely because of their free throw shooting.

The Falcons had four players score in double-digits. Frankland ended the game with 25 points on 82-percent (9-for-11) shooting. His 25 points is one below his career-high. Both Frankland and Owens hauled in seven rebounds. Freshman Jordan Burton dished out six assists and Hodges added four.

Notre Dame, as a team, shot 46-percent from the field and 80-percent from the free throw line. They had 30 points off turnovers. The team also posted a season-high 11 steals and tied their season-high with four blocks.

Davis & Elkins shot the ball well, at 44-percent, and out-rebounded NDC 34-26, but their 23 turnovers were too much to overcome.

NDC will travel to Fairmont State University on February 12. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.