SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College men's basketball continues to win games in different ways. On Saturday afternoon, they scored a season-low 63 points, but the defense held Concord to 35-percent shooting in a 63-61 victory.

Concord struggled shooting the ball to begin the game and Notre Dame jumped out to a 4-0 lead. CU's Lual Rahama missed four free throws in the first minute and-a-half and the team missed seven of their first eight shots from the field. The three-point shot kept Concord in the contest, as Matt Weir knocked down two shots from long range in the first nine minutes.

Notre Dame also had their share of missed shots and turnovers early in the contest. Junior Michael Sampson tried to spark the Falcons' offense as he stole a pass and took it coast-to-coast for a layup, with 15:02 on the first half clock. That put NDC ahead 6-3.

NDC recorded 10 fastbreak points in the first half, while Concord had zero.

The Falcons grabbed an 8-7 advantage with 11:55 to go before halftime, but then the Mountain Lions put together a 7-0 run and held a 14-8 lead.

Back-to-back three pointers by NDC's junior Jaedon Willis and freshman DeAirius Barker pulled the Falcons within one point, 17-16, but NDC did not grab the lead back until junior Daylin Lee connected on his second three-pointer of the half, giving the Falcons a 22-21 lead with just under four minutes to go.

Notre Dame led 31-28 at halftime, and shot 44-percent from the field and 45-percent from behind the three-point arc. On the other side, Concord shot just 29-percent from the field and three-point line.

"We were fortunate enough to get some key stops tonight," said head coach Mark Richmond. "I thought we were pretty good defensively in both halves. We had some miscommunication a few times and they took advantage of us, a handful of times from three. For the most part, I thought we played well defensively, we kind of played at their pace and that kept the score down. The way we played, we were fortunate to win the game today."

The two teams traded baskets early in the second half, however, Concord never grabbed the lead. The contest was tied at 33 and at 41, but NDC responded each time. Around the 12-minute mark, Notre Dame strung some baskets together and went on a scoring run. Junior Tyland Crawford knocked down a layup, Sampson blocked a shot on one end and was awarded with a pass and a bucket on the other side of the floor and, after Concord missed two chances from long range, Willis pumped some energy into the gym with a triple. That 7-0 run put Notre Dame on top by a score of 48-41.

Willis led the Falcons with 16 points and five made baskets. He also had a season-high four steals.

Concord did not get closer than two points, until Darius Parham hit from three-point range to make the score 62-61 in favor of Notre Dame, with six second left. Crawford, who had 12 points in the game for NDC, split a pair of free throws and NDC survived.

The Falcons shot just 35-percent in the second half and finished the game with a shooting percentage of 39-percent.

"We didn't play our best today, but we found a way to win and I'm proud of them for that," Richmond said. "We kind of grinded it out, got enough stops down the stretch. Didn't shoot well from the free throw line down the stretch, but made a couple key ones and got a big offensive rebound to end the game. We're finding ways to win, and the more we're in these situations, the better we're going to be down the road."

Notre Dame improves to 5-1 on the season and they have a 3-1 Mountain East Conference mark. The Falcons ended Concord's streak of three straight wins. CU defeated West Virginia State and Alderson Broaddus before visiting South Euclid.

The Falcons had never won a game in their Division II era in which they scored 63 points, or fewer. The last time the program won after scoring 63 points, or less, came on Nov. 14, 2009, with 53-49 victory over Rochester University.

Richmond spoke about the upcoming schedule, which includes three games next week.

"I knew we were going to find out a lot about our team during this stretch. We've got four games in seven days and we have eight in 20 days here in December. We're going to learn a lot and hopefully continue to get better," Richmond mentioned.

The Falcons stay home and host Lourdes University on Dec. 6. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.