SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Points from 11 different players, along with energy throughout the game, gave Notre Dame College an 88-70 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan College, on Monday night.

The first five minutes of the game featured four lead changes and two ties. NDC's freshman John Godinez got the offense going and scored the first eight points of the game for the home team. He stole the ball and put NDC on the board with a layup, and followed that up with back-to-back threes.

"I was trying to attack and let my energy come into the game, because we needed energy," Godinez said. "I needed to come in with no turnovers."

Godinez would finish the night with 18 points, on 60-percent shooting, and stole the ball four times.

"I could tell all week [Godinez] was ready to go and he wanted to get back out there," said head coach Mark Richmond. "He's a guy who can really get it going offensively and, just being a freshman, he's still learning and he's going to be a good player here."

Another guard in the starting lineup, sophomore Jordan Burton, gave the Falcons a lead that would last for the rest of the game with a three-pointer at the 15:19-mark in the first half. NDC led 11-8 at that moment.

Burton also had a great night, scoring 15 points after knocking down a career-high five 3-pointers.

The Notre Dame advantage grew to eight points, 24-16, with just under 10 minutes to go before halftime after junior Marquise Johnson hit a driving layup. That layup was made possible because of a steal and pass from Godinez.

Junior Jordan Roland connected on a layup, with 3:36 on the clock, to give NDC a nine-point lead, the largest of the first half.

Yet another guard in the starting lineup, Roland led the Falcons with nine made field goals, 22 points and four assists. He set season-highs in made field goals and points.

However, the Bobcats put a 12-6 run together to end the half. They cut the deficit to three points, 37-34, after Jaylin Reed hit a layup. WVWC was shooting 56-percent at the break, while the Falcons were sitting at 47-percent.

"We made some mistakes toward the end of the first half," Richmond mentioned. "We didn't convert as much around the rim, I thought we rebounded really well, but I thought that halftime lead could have been a little bit bigger if we could have converted on some layups and were stronger around the rim. I was proud we held them off. They kind of made a late run there, but when we got into the second half, I think that was when we started pulling away."

Daylin Lee was fouled and hit two free throws for W.Va. Wesleyan to get within one point, 37-36, at the beginning of the second half. But that would be as close as the Bobcats would get.

Leading by four points with 17:25 left in the game, Notre Dame went on a 9-2 run and grabbed their first double-digit lead, 54-43, almost two minutes later.

A block by freshman Kameron Taylor on one end and then a dunk by freshman Obinna Ugwuakazi pushed the NDC lead to 23 points, 83-60, with just 1:14 remaining.

"It feels great, this is what we needed," Godinez said. "I feel like this is the momentum setter right here for the rest of the season."

"I thought the key to this game was attacking them at the rim," Richmond said. "To be honest, I think we missed a lot of easy ones, but in the second half, we made a lot of those. That's what caused [W.Va. Wesleyan] to collapse and help a little bit more and those threes became even more open. Obviously, when you shoot 8-for-12 in the second half from three, you're doing something right. Those were great shots. I don't know how many of those were off of assists, but I think most came off of somebody else making a great play."

Notre Dame shot 57-percent from the field and 67-percent from three-point range in the second half.

They set season-highs in the game with 88 points, 32 made shots, 12 made threes, a field goal percentage of 52-percent and three-point percentage of 52-percent.

The Falcons will play on Feb. 3 against Glenville State College, on the road. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.