Second Half Stunner! NDC Knocks Off CSU Wednesday.

The Notre Dame College Falcons trailed by 11 points at halftime in an exhibition game at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State but would rally to stun Cleveland State 69-64 after a defensive masterpiece by the Falcons and some timely shots that fell in the second half.

NDC senior Bruce Hodges summed it up best:

" Defense wins championship man. We rebounded- and- when you can go 28 percent in a half shows what type team your defensive is on. I loved seeing us fight and not fold! "Hodges stated.

Teammate Drew Scarberry agreed:

" Well I just wanna say that this might have been the hardest that I have ever seen this team play. We are scrambling and playing great one on one defense. We did a great job of rotating on the bigs down low. We need to keep that effort going into practice and into the weekend."Scarberry said.

NDC was led by Scarberry and Levi Frankland with 15 points each. Larenz Thurman added 11 points- six rebounds- and- four assists. Dae-John Walker-Bey gave the Falcons a huge lift off the bench and scored nine points to go along with six rebounds. NDC shot 42 percent as a team, including 53 percent in the second half. They shot 29 percent (8-28) from the 3-point line but were 50 percent (6-12) from the 3-point line in the second half. NDC shot 79 percent (11-14) from the free throw line- while they had 17 assists to go along with nine turnovers.

CSU was led by Kasheem Thomas with 15 points- while Craig Beaudion and Franklyn Penn Jr. had 11 points each. The Vikings shot 37 percent from the field- 21 percent (6-28) from the 3-point line- and- 67 percent (14-21) at the free throw line. The Vikings won the rebounding battle 40-38. They had 14 assists- and- nine turnovers as a team. The Vikings shot 28 percent from the field in the second half and went one of 12 from the 3-point line.

The Falcons would get on the board first to begin this one as a 3-pointer by Thurman would put them up early. CSU would then go on a run and lead 12-5 at the first media time out. About eight minutes later the Vikings would lead by six (26-20.) The Vikings would close out the half and build an 11 point lead (36-25) at the intermission.

Thomas would lead CSU with 12 in the opening half- while Penn had 10. CSU shot 46 percent in the opening half- including 31 percent (5-16) at the 3-point line. The Vikings shot 83 percent (5-6) at the free throw line in the half. They had six assists and four turnovers as a team in the opening 20 minutes.

NDC was led by Frankland with seven points in the opening half- while they had a trio of players with four (Thurman- Walker-Bey and Jordan Burton.) NDC shot 30 percent from the field in the opening half- while they shot just 13 percent (2-16) from the 3-point line. NDC shot 71 percent (5-7) from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes. They out-rebounded the Vikings 20-17 in the opening stanza. NDC had six assists- and- six turnovers as a team in the half.

The Vikings would stretch the lead to 12 (42-30) with under 16 to go before the Falcons were on the come back trail. The Falcons would cut the lead to six (46-40) with 13:50 remaining. Over the next nearly six minutes the Falcons would go on another run and after a Scarberry 3-pointer NDC would be within two with under eight minutes to go. NDC would come all the way back and the game would be tied at 56 with five minutes left. After a short-lived lead for the Vikings NDC would get a 3-ball from Hodges to put them on top (59-58) with three minutes to go. The game would be knotted at 61 with 2:15 left. After CSU took a one point lead again the Falcons would get a Thurman 3-pointer to give them the lead for good with under a minute to go. The Falcons would finish it off at the foul line and a stretch that saw the Vikings not make a field goal in the final 2:06 would seal it, as the Vikings would step out of bounds before the free throws iced it.

Coach Mark Richmond had his first win as a head coach and he talked about it afterwards:

" Our guys stuck together. They handled some adversity and just kept playing. We had multiple guys step up and take on more of an extensive role. I really liked how balanced we were because I think that's who we have to be to be successful this season."

Thurman gave his thoughts on the win:

"Awesome team win. It was good for us to go thru some adversity and be able to come out victorious. Big confidence booster after that win."

Frankland talked big picture:

" Great win, but we got to continue to come into each game with underdog mentalities and the thought that we have to out-work everyone. Need to keep building off this game and fix the things we did wrong."

NDC will have one more exhibition as they will scrimmage MercyHurst on Saturday at noon at Murphy Gym. Then the regular season begins with the Conference Challenge at Fairmont State next weekend.