FROSTBURG, Md. – Despite early shooting struggles, Notre Dame College turned the offense around in the second half, while holding Frostburg State University to 36-percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, earning a 74-63 victory on Saturday. The Falcons secured their fifth consecutive win.

The first major run of the game came from Frostburg State. After junior Michael Sampson put the Falcons up, 7-4, with a layup, FSU put the next 10 points on the board, on a run that included two 3-pointers. With 13:13 on the clock, the Bobcats led the Falcons by a score of 14-7.

Notre Dame got within one point, five different times between the 10:28-mark and the 2:22-mark, but Frostburg State held the Falcons off and maintained the lead. But in the final 2:22 of the first half, NDC put together a 7-2 run to take the lead going into the halftime.

Sampson sank two free throws to tie the contest at 26. About a minute later, junior Sam Jackson grabbed an offensive rebound off his own miss and put down a layup to tie the game at 28. Finally, with 49 seconds remaining, Willis drove to the free throw line and dumped the ball off to Jackson for another layup, giving NDC a 30-28 advantage.

Neither team shot the ball very well in the first 20 minutes, as NDC shot 38-percent from the field, while Frostburg State finished the half at 39-percent. Sampson led the Falcons with nine points. Notre Dame has now held its last four opponents to under 30 first half points.

Willis got the Falcons jump started on offense in the second half, scoring the first six points for NDC. He also assisted on a dunk by Sampson to push the Notre Dame lead to 38-29, following an 8-1 run.

After scoring just four points in the first stanza, Willis would score 17 points, on 71-percent shooting from the field, with six assists in the second half. He finished the game with 21 points and a season-high eight assists.

With 15:28 to go in the second half, freshman Jamarr Talbert Jr. knocked down a three and Notre Dame went ahead by 10 (41-31).

The Bobcats responded quickly with seven points in a little over a minute of game time. At the 13:55-mark, FSU trailed by three points, 41-38.

After NDC missed four shots, Sampson ended the streak and knocked down back-to-back layups to cool off the Bobcats.

Sampson finished the game with 19 points, and shot 80-percent (8-for-10) from the field, with eight rebounds.

With 8:07 on the clock, junior Daylin Lee grabbed the offensive board and found Willis for a triple to give Notre Dame a 54-48 lead. However, the Bobcats put together another run at the Falcons, putting six consecutive points on the scoreboard to get within three points (54-51), with under seven minutes remaining in the game.

Talbert came up clutch for the Falcons as he connected on another three. NDC would score nine consecutive points and push their lead to double-digits. For the rest of the half, the Falcons would lead by at least nine points.

"Extremely proud of our defensive effort today," said head coach Mark Richmond. "Frostburg is a very talented team that can score the ball. Offensively, we didn't shoot the ball great from the perimeter but we were able to convert around the rim and in transition. When we defend like that, we will give ourselves a chance to win, no matter who or where we are playing."

The Bobcats turned the ball over 14 times and the Falcons scored 17 points off of FSU's turnovers. Notre Dame shot 54-percent from the field in the second half and held Frostburg State to 36-percent shooting. Junior Tyland Crawford grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, his second double-digit rebounding game against FSU this season.

Sixty-three points is the third lowest amount of points allowed by NDC this season and lowest since Dec. 11, when the Falcons gave up just 58 points against West Virginia Wesleyan.

Notre Dame will travel to Charleston to face the Golden Eagles on Jan. 16 That contest is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.