SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Few teams can respond like Notre Dame College did on Saturday, making the precise adjustments and stopping an opponent with two completely different halves. West Virginia Wesleyan College scored 48 points, on 47-percent shooting from the field, in the first half, but then were held to 21 points, on 18-percent shooting, in the second half. The Falcons walked away with a 75-69 victory.
 
Both teams shot the ball well through the first ten minutes of the contest. From the opening tipoff, until the 10-minute mark, the game featured four lead changes and two ties.
 
West Virginia Wesleyan's Jalen Canada hit shot to put the Bobcats up, 14-10, but Joshua Dames then caught fire for the Falcons. The junior knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers in less than a minute and-a-half to give NDC a 19-14 lead, with 11:35 on the first half clock.
 
Dames would lead the team with nine points by halftime and he ended the contest with a season-high 14 points.
 
NDC extended the run to 11 unanswered points, after sophomore Jevontae Jones stole the ball and junior Trent Blackshire dunked it on the other end, pushing the Notre Dame lead to seven, 21-14.
 
But, almost as quickly as Notre Dame expanded its lead, WVWC put together a 12-0 run. Many of the baskets started with solid defense by the Bobcats, who totaled three steals during the run. With 7:35 to go before halftime, West Virginia Wesleyan led, 26-21.
 
Notre Dame sophomore Devin Haid blocked a shot and junior Davin Zeigler passed the ball up to Andre Harris for a dunk to put the Falcons within two, 28-26. NDC could not grab the lead back, but did not allow the lead to expand past seven points, until the clock went under two minutes. WVWC closed the first half on a 10-3 run in the final two minutes and led, 48-36, at halftime.
 
"I thought the key for us was guarding dribble penetration," said head coach Mark Richmond. "In the first half, they got deep on us and made some shots [under the basket]. We held our ground in the second half and made those shots much harder."
 
The Falcons did not panic and stayed consistent on the offensive end. They made 14 shots in the first half and 14 shots in the second half, shooting 54-percent from the field in the first stanza and 50-percent in the second. But, the game changed on the defensive end.
 
"Our defensive effort was really good in that second half," Richmond mentioned. "In the first half, we turned it over and gave them some easy buckets. We didn't rebound well or guard them well enough in transition. The second half was more of a halfcourt game and we did a better job of rebounding."
 
After the halftime break, both teams were struggling to find the bottom of the net, as the first points were scored two minutes and 20 seconds into the second half. Harris made a free throw and then knocked down a jumper. Notre Dame started to make shots in a hurry and went on a 7-0 run.
 
Harris would score 10 points in the second half, on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, and ended with 14.
 
"I thought he was really efficient shooting the ball and did a good job on the glass," Richmond said, speaking about Harris. "And he obviously made some emotional, key plays down the stretch."
 
Ten minutes into the second half, W.Va. Wesleyan had only made one shot from the field and two free throws. The Bobcats would make just five shots from the field in the entire half along with seven free throws.
 
Junior Jamarr Talbert Jr. and Harris each hit layups to tie the game at 57 and 59, respectively, and the Falcons were finally able to take the lead when junior Gbolahan Adio sank a free throw with 6:48 on the clock, giving NDC a 60-59 lead.
 
Adio had nine second half points and finished with 12. Talbert added seven points in the second stanza, his first points of the season.
 
In the gap between two West Virginia Wesleyan makes from the field, from the 8:49-mark until the 2:23-mark, NDC went on a 15-2 run, as the only Bobcat points came at the free throw line. With 2:47 left in the game, Notre Dame led, 72-64.
 
As a team in the second half, the Falcons had 10 more points off turnovers than WVWC (11-1), 18 more points in the paint (18-0), and nine more fastbreak points (10-1).

Another notable performance came from Haid, who had seven assists and three steals in the final 20 minutes. He ended the game with a career-high nine assists. Jones also set a career-high with five assists and NDC finished the contest with a season-high 25 assists, as a team.
 
The Falcons will travel to play the University of the District of Columbia, on Dec. 16, at 2 p.m.