BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – Notre Dame College men's basketball is off to a 7-2 start for the first time since the 2018-19 season. The Falcons have started Mountain East Conference play with a 5-1 record, the program's best start ever in the MEC. On Saturday, NDC jumped out to an 18-8 lead, less than five minutes into the game, and beat West Virginia Wesleyan College by a score of 71-58.

Notre Dame hit six of their first seven shots from the field and went 3-for-4 at the free throw line in the first five minutes.

With 15:08 to go in the first half, Notre Dame was shooting 86-percent from the field and 80-percent from behind the three-point arc. Junior Daylin Lee was a problem for the West Virginia Wesleyan defense early in the game, as he was perfect shooting the ball from the field (4-for-4) and from long range (3-for-3).

"Daylin Lee was key in getting us off to a great start," said head coach Mark Richmond.
 
Lee's season-high in points this season was 11, entering Saturday's contest. He notched season-highs with 23 points, eight made shots, seven rebounds, three assists and 29 minutes played.
 
Junior Tyland Crawford was fouled on the way to the basket and made a pair of free throws to give NDC a 21-8 lead.

West Virginia Wesleyan did put together an 11-2 run, with Jayden Hibbitt scoring five of the points on their run. Hibbitt would finish the game with 19 points, leading the Bobcats.

Down just four points (23-19), WVWC had a chance to make it a two-point game following a steal on the defensive end, but a jumper on the other side of the floor was no good.

Notre Dame went through a tough shooting stretch. A layup by junior Tyland Crawford, with 9:32 to go before halftime, was the Falcons' second made shot from the field since the 15:56-mark.

The Falcons would start cleaning the boards and taking advantage of W.Va. Wesleyan misses. A layup by junior Sam Jackson capped a 7-0 run and gave the Falcons their largest lead of the first half at 35-21, with 6:02 remaining.

The Falcons led 41-29 after 20 minutes of play. Lee was NDC's leading scorer with 16 points in the first half, shooting the ball at a 71-percent clip (5-for-7).

Between the 17:08-mark and the 15:13-mark of the second half, both teams hit three consecutive shots. That scoring outburst featured back-to-back driving layups by Notre Dame's junior Michael Sampson.

Sampson recorded his second consecutive double-double, with 10 points and 10 boards.

Notre Dame still led by 12 points (51-39) at the 15-minute mark. And after that point in the game, neither team shot the ball very well.

Lee was still making his presence known, taking a pass from Sampson and slamming it down with 14:30 on the clock. About 30 seconds later, he would haul in an offensive rebound, which led to a three pointer by freshman John Godinez. NDC's lead expanded to 17 points (56-39).

An 11-2 run by the Bobcats cut the Falcons' lead down to single-digits (58-50) for the first time since the 3-minute mark in the first half.

Attempting to grab the momentum back, Crawford would score the next four points, with two free throws and a jump shot. NDC led, 62-50, with just under seven minutes to play.

Crawford tied a season-high with nine free throw makes and had 19 points.

In the second half, the Falcons shot just 38-percent from the field, but held W.Va. Wesleyan to 29 points.

"Good road win today at West Virginia Wesleyan," Richmond said. "I thought we did a good job of taking care of the ball against their pressure and zone. We didn't shoot the ball great, but we were good enough defensively that it didn't matter. Give credit to Wesleyan because they did a good job changing defenses and keeping us off balance."
 
Notre Dame moved the ball quickly down the floor throughout the night and had 19 fast break points, to the Bobcats' two. The Falcons also had 10 more second chance points in the contest (16-6).

NDC will come back home for a non-conference tilt with Bryant & Stratton College Buffalo. The game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.