SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College only trailed for a little over six minutes on Wednesday evening, as they battled No. 10 ranked Fairmont State University in the Murphy Gymnasium. NDC maintained its lead on the offensive end and the defense held FSU to 41-percent shooting from the field in a 78-73 victory.

Wednesday's win marked Notre Dame's second victory over a top 10 ranked team in NCAA Division II this season.

Neither team shot the ball extremely well in the first half. Notre Dame shot 38-percent, while Fairmont State went 12-for-34 (35-percent) in the opening 20 minutes, including an 0-for-5 mark from three-point range.

FSU expanded its lead to four points, twice, in the first six minutes of the contest. With 14:32 on the clock, Zyon Dobbs knocked down a jumper to give Fairmont State an 8-4 advantage. That would be the largest lead for Fairmont State in the game.

Freshman DeAirius Barker was a major factor for the NDC Falcons all night, and he helped Notre Dame take the lead midway through the first half. He grabbed a defensive rebound and on the other end, sent a pass to junior Tyland Crawford for a jumper to pull Notre Dame within one. On the very next FSU possession, junior Jaedon Willis stole the ball and Barker would assist on a perfectly timed alley-oop to junior Daylin Lee.

The dunk by Lee, with 10:41 on the first half clock, energized the gym and swung the momentum to NDC. It also gave Notre Dame a lead (11-10) that they would not give back the rest of the night.

Including the Crawford jumper and Lee dunk, Notre Dame put together a 13-4 run and held a 20-14 advantage with 8:04 remaining in the first stanza. During the run, Lee scored or assisted on nine of NDC's 13 points.

Lee led the team 10 points at the end of the first half on 4-of-7 shooting. He finished the game with 18 points off the bench.

"I knew coming into this game we had to be aggressive," he mentioned. "We had to push the pace, early. This is a strong team, a top 10 team in the country, our coaches emphasized that we need to come out strong. I really took that to heart and tried to make a statement today, against a really good team."

Fairmont State would get within two points at times throughout the half, but could not tie or take the lead. At halftime, Notre Dame held a 31-28 advantage.

After scoring just five points in the first half, Willis came out on fire in the second half. He knocked down back-to-back shots, both assisted by Barker, and gave NDC an eight-point advantage (36-28). He continued scoring after FSU went on a 5-0 run. At the 16:41-mark, he split a pair of free throws and then knocked down another two-point jumper.

He had 14 second half points and finished with 19 points on 5-of-9 (56-percent) shooting from the field.

With a little more than 15 minutes on the clock, Fairmont State made a run at the lead. Dobbs knocked down a three to pull within one. And, after a layup by Barker, FSU's Briggs Parris responded with a layup.

However, Notre Dame started a big run of their own to shift the momentum, and it began with another dunk by Lee.

The NDC Falcons put together a 14-4 run in about four minutes of game action. During the run, Barker and Crawford had five points, each.

Barker scored all 14 of his points in the second half to set a career-high, going 6-for-6 from the floor in the second stanza. He dished out a team-high five assists.

With 10:29 remaining in the contest, NDC led by double-digits for the first time. They were up by 11 points (55-44).

Fairmont State would make it interesting later, as FSU's Isaiah Sanders connected on a three to make the score 74-71 in favor of NDC with 33 seconds to go. Notre Dame would make enough free throws down the stretch to hold them off.

"I just liked our approach," head coach Mark Richmond said. "I thought it was a workman-like effort, everybody contributed. I thought we did a really good job rebounding the ball, taking care of the ball. A complete group effort and, for the first time, I felt like we played pretty well for 40 minutes."

"This team has heart," Lee commented. "When it's time for the big games, big stage, we step up. We play together and we have each other's back."

NDC shot 53-percent (17-for-32) in the second half and finished the game shooting 45-percent from the field. The NDC Falcons also grabbed 32 defensive rebounds and 43 total rebounds. Those two numbers are second-most for the team this season, behind the rebounding numbers against No. 7 West Liberty, which was also a win at home.

"We've taken the approach that we are going to continue to improve and play our best basketball going into March," Richmond said. "Our guys have continued to work. I said that early on in the year, that we have a group that likes to work. To hold a team that talented to 41-percent from the field is a really good defensive effort, and I feel like that's where we've taken the biggest strides, being able to guard talented guys."

Notre Dame now has back-to-back road games on the schedule, beginning with a trip to Frostburg State University on Feb. 12. That game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.