WHEELING, W.Va. – Notre Dame College put together a 17-5 run and cut the Glenville State College lead down to two points, with just under nine minutes to go, but Glenville State held on to win 83-68 in the Mountain East Conference Quarterfinal matchup.

Both teams needed some time to get acclimated with the hoops at WesBanco Arena at the beginning of the game. With just over five minutes played, Glenville State was shooting 36% and NDC was at 33% shooting.

After the first media timeout, the offenses started to heat up. Freshman John Godinez sped down the court for a jump shot and then connected on a layup, following a steal by junior Michael Sampson. The Falcons led 11-9 at the 14:26-mark in the first.

Glenville State took the lead, but Notre Dame did not let GSC get too far away throughout the first 10 minutes of the game. The Pioneers grabbed a five-point lead, before junior Jordan Roland knocked down a three. A three pointer by Seth Fallon gave Glenville State another five-point lead, but Sampson went on a personal 4-0 run, which included another steal.

NDC grabbed the lead with 10:30 on the clock when Jordan Roland connected on a three, making the score, 24-22.

The offensive rebounds by Glenville State gave them a few second chance opportunities. The Pioneers had grabbed 10 offensive boards in the first 14 minutes.

At halftime, Glenville led Notre Dame by a score of 43-32. Roland led the Falcons with 11 points and two three pointers.

To start the second half, the Pioneers held a double-digit lead through the first seven minutes, but the Falcons put together an incredible run to get back into the game.

A pair of free throws by John Williams gave GSC a 56-42 advantage with 15:32 on the clock. Roland then went on a personal 6-0 run. He split a pair of free throws, knocked down a three and then he followed a teammate's miss with an offensive rebound and layup.

Notre Dame did not stop there, as junior Tyland Crawford connected on a layup and Michael Sampson made a layup off a pass from Crawford, on the next possession. The Falcons capped a 17-5 run with a steal and layup by Sampson. Notre Dame trailed by two points, 61-59, with 8:58 to go.

"This is the first time a lot of these guys have played in this situation," said head coach Mark Richmond. "It took a while for us to get settled in, but once we did, we had to expend so much energy to get back into the game, we just couldn't get over the hump."

NDC cut the lead down to two points, again, nearly one minute later, but that would be as close as the Falcons would get. Between the 7:54-mark and the 4:12-mark, Glenville State went on a 12-3 run and led by a score of 75-64.

"Obviously, a disappointing finish to our season," Richmond said. "We did get rolling a little bit later in the year, winning four in a row heading into this game, so we felt good about it. You have to give Glenville credit, they have three guys who played really well and have been in this situation before."

Roland scored 14 second half points and finished the game with 25. That is the highest point total by an NDC player in the MEC Tournament since Will Vorhees scored 29 in the 2019 MEC Championship game.

"I feel like we needed some hurt for us to lock in, because we're a very good team and it showed in us winning our last four [regular season] games to get here," explained Roland, who was recently named All-MEC Second Team. "I think this game will really motivate us to play harder and win in the future."

Crawford had 13 points and five rebounds and Sampson added eight points, eight rebounds and four steals. The Falcons shot the ball at 44%.

Sampson set a program record this season by shooting the ball at 73.7% from the field. He is currently first in that category in NCAA Division II rankings for this season. Sampson also averaged 6.8 defensive rebounds per game, good for fourth in program history and 3.4 offensive rebounds per game, which is sixth in program history. His 10.2 total rebounds per game are fifth highest in program history. Burton set a program record by shooting 52.6% from long range this season and is fourth in program history by shooting 86.5% from the free throw line.