WHEELING, W.Va. – Notre Dame College was on a mission to start the season 3-0, battling back at the end of each half, on Saturday. The Falcons carried a two-point lead into halftime, and then a running jumper by junior Jaedon Willis with four seconds left in the contest gave NDC a 71-69 victory.

The Falcons and Cardinals battled in the Mountain East Conference opener. Wheeling grabbed the first significant lead of the game by putting together an 11-0 run beginning at the 17:16-mark in the first half. Following a dunk by Jordan Reid, WU had a nine-point lead, 14-5, with just over 15 minutes remaining in the opening half.

Notre Dame still had some trouble getting into rhythm offensively, but freshman John Godinez helped get it started by scoring the next five points of the game, with a jumper and a three pointer.

The Falcons continued to chop the Wheeling lead down, and even tied the game at 21. However, they did not grab the lead back until Willis connected from long range with 4:04 left in the half. That three-pointer gave NDC a 27-25 lead. The Falcons only missed two shot in the final four minutes before halftime, but Wheeling kept the game close by making two three-pointers. NDC led 33-31 as the teams went to their locker rooms.

WU and NDC went back-and-forth in the second half and neither team led by more than five points. From the beginning of the second stanza, until there was 5:41 left on the clock, the lead had changed 11 times.

NDC had a 58-57 lead with 6:59 to go, following a Michael Sampson basket. Wheeling then tied the game on the next possession and took the lead a minute later. Neither team looked to have control of the contest, but Wheeling was able to keep the lead for nearly five minutes.

Trailing by five points with less than two minutes remaining, Notre Dame scored seven straight points to take a 69-67 lead, with 30 seconds on the clock. During the run, Crawford knocked down a three, Sampson stole the ball and made a layup and Willis drove and connected on a layup.

Wheeling called a timeout and after they took the floor, Jarett Haines made a quick move to the middle of the paint, went around a defender and sunk an athletic layup with eight seconds left, to tie the game at 69.

The Falcons quickly moved down the floor with Willis leading the way. He sped past a defender and froze the defense as he pulled up for a running jumper, just inside the free throw line to push NDC in front.

Haines had one more chance at a game-winning three, but it came up short.

Willis totaled 12 points in both halves. He scored four points in the final two minutes of the first half and scored, or assisted on, seven points in the final two minutes of the second.

Crawford, Godinez and junior Michael Kirkland all had 10 points for NDC. Sampson pulled down 10 rebounds.

Notre Dame comes home for the first time this season and they will host No. 14 ranked West Liberty University, on Nov. 23. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.