SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – An exciting Wednesday night matchup featured nine lead changes in the first half as Notre Dame College and Wheeling University went to battle. NDC scored 46 points in the second half and shot 50-percent from the field to finish off an 82-64 victory.

The game was tied three times in the first five minutes. After freshman DeAirius Barker's three put the Falcons ahead 7-4, Wheeling would put together an 11-2 run, aided by a couple important offensive rebounds that led to two makes from long range. With 13:46 on the first half clock, the Cardinals led by six points (15-9).

As would be the case throughout the entire first half, NDC came right back. Junior Jaedon Willis knocked down a three and, following a couple Wheeling misses from close range, Willis dished to junior Tyland Crawford for a fastbreak layup. Willis again found his way to the basket and capped a 7-0 NDC run with a layup. Notre Dame grabbed a 16-15 advantage.

With 10:33 on the clock, Notre Dame fell behind by five points again, but they wasted little time in swinging the momentum back around. Willis hit a triple, Sampson tied the game with a layup, freshman Jamarr Talbert Jr. stole the ball and slammed it down on the other end and Willis bookended the run with another three. With seven minutes to go, the Falcons' lead had grown to five (26-21).

Willis finished the first half with 14 points, while going 4-for-7 from behind the three-point arc. He also had 14 points in the second half and finished with 28 points on 53-percent shooting (9-for-17) and 58-percent from three (7-for-12). He added six assists.

The Cardinals' final basket of the first half came with 1:10 to go. Down by four points with under a minute left, Notre Dame's Gbolahan Adio sank a three and just before the buzzer, sophomore Obinna Ugwuakazi put down a tough layup. The Falcons led 36-35 at halftime.

"I just really liked our effort and that we stayed together," said head coach Mark Richmond. "I thought Wheeling played really well in the first half and we made some adjustments and did a better job, especially defensively, in the second half. Obviously, your defense leads to your offense and when you play better defensively, you usually play better offensively. I though we played together and shared the ball. Defensively, I was happy with the way we closed it out."

Wheeling's Andrew Taylor took the ball away with a steal early in the second half. An NDC foul sent Jordan Reid to the free throw line. He hit both shots and gave Wheeling a 37-36 lead. But that would be WU's final lead of the contest.

On the other end, junior Sam Jackson grabbed his own miss and hit the layup. Then a technical foul was called on Wheeling and Willis sank two free throws to give NDC a 40-37 advantage.

At the 13:33-mark in the second half, the Cardinals were down by just one point (47-46). The Falcons missed a shot, but Crawford grabbed the offensive board and knocked down a jumper to keep NDC in front. That play gave the Falcons new energy the rest of the way.

Crawford had 10 points and eight rebounds in the game.

Both teams missed their next shot, before Wheeling's Brent Price turned the ball over. The steal by Crawford led to a dunk by Sampson.

A 13-2 run gave the Falcons a 60-48 advantage with about seven minutes remaining. During the run, Sampson had six points.

Sampson totaled 11 points, on 4-for-4 shooting, and seven rebounds in the second half. He finished the contest with his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

"We got really good shots and we were able to get [the ball] to the rollers [in the second half]," Willis said. "I was able to get it to Mike [Sampson], Sam [Jackson] and Ty [Crawford]. We got easy baskets and that made [Wheeling] collapse defensively and then they went zone. We feel confident once a team goes zone against us, we can knock it down."

After that point, the closest Wheeling could get was eight. Notre Dame added on to their lead and went up by as many as 20 points.

NDC will travel to Alderson Broaddus University on Saturday for a 4 p.m. start time.