For the second time since 2019 the Notre Dame College Falcons came into the Wolstein Center on the campus of Division I Cleveland State University and walked out with a win. Monday night paced by 23 points from Jaedon Willis along with seven rebounds and a 17 point effort from DeAirius Barker to go with six rebounds of his own and eight points each from Andre Harris, Jamarr Talbert, and Obinna Ugwuakazi NDC came away with the 72-68 win in front of 1548 fans on Monday night after trailing by 12 with 5:28 to go.
"Really proud of our teams effort and resiliency," Head Coach Mark Richmond exclaimed. " I thought we competed at a really high level tonight and that afforded us the opportunity to win it in the end."
NDC would score the games first six points and led 12-3 after a Willis free throw at the 16:26 mark of the opening half. After a three-point play by Tristan Enaruna for the Vikings made it 12-6 Willis stretched the NDC lead back to eight with a jumper. CSU would take the lead 18-14 as the Falcons would go nearly six minutes without a point. A Barker layup would stop the NDC drought just over midway through the opening frame. A Jayson Woodrich 3-pointer would give CSU a 22-16 lead with 9:20 in the half. NDC would then go on a 10-0 spurt as Willis and Harris made baskets and a 3-pointer by Khalil Camara gave NDC the lead back with 8:04 showing on the first half clock. A Talbert triple would stretch the NDC lead to four (26-22.) Willis hit a pair of free throws but a 3-pointer by Enaruna made it a one point game. CSU would score the next four points before Ugwuakazi pulled NDC to within one (31-30.) Ugwuakazi made a jumper at the 3:43 mark of the half and those would be the last points of the half as both teams went ice cold in the last 3:43. NDC would take a 32-31 lead into the locker room.
Willis led the Falcons with nine points in the opening half, Ugwuakazi tallied eight, and Barker scored seven in the first 20 minutes. NDC shot 44.4 percent from the field, 33.3 percent (3-9) from the 3-point line, and 83 percent (5-6) at the free throw line in the opening stanza. NDC had four assists and eight turnovers in the opening half.
CSU was led by Enaruna who had 10 points and seven rebounds in the opening half, Tae Williams also chipped in 10. The Vikings shot 45 percent from the field, 30 percent (3-10) from the 3-point line, and 40 percent (2-5) from the free throw line in the opening half. CSU had a 19-14 edge on the glass, while they had seven assists and nine turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
A Harris jumper 32 seconds into the second half made the NDC lead three. The Vikings would then go on a 9-0 run before a Willis 3-pointer made it 40-37 in favour of the home team with 16:14 to go. After a Yahel Hill layup and a "Spider" Johnson dunk the lead was seven for the home team. Willis hit another 3-pointer but the Vikings would counter with a four point run. CSU would lead by 11 (58-47) after a Parker free throw with 9:04 to go. Talbert would make a layup and knock down a triple to cut the NDC deficit to six (58-52) with 8:09 on the clock. Enaruna would stretch the CSU lead to eight. Both teams would go cold again as after an Enaruna basket made it 60-52. Parker would make a layup for the Vikings and it would be 62-52 with 6:03 to go. Enaruna made a layup with 5:28 to go and the NDC deficit was 12 (64-52) but the Falcons did not panic. A Harris layup would start NDC back on the comeback trail. Barker would make a layup and get fouled, he would convert the free throw to cut the CSU lead to seven (64-57) with 4:47 remaining. Willis spilt a pair of free throws 21 seconds later and it would be a six point game. A Harris layup and Daylin Lee split a pair of free throws to make it 64-61 with 2:58 on the clock. Gbolohan Adio would then get a steal and Willis would draw a foul on a 3-point attempt. The senior would step to the line and calmly drain all three free throws to knot the game at 64 with 2:20 left to go. Parker would split a pair of free throws for CSU and Barker would put the Falcons on top with a 3-pointer off of an assist from Lee at the 1:45 mark. A lead that the Falcons would not relinquish. Barker hit another pair of free throws at the 1:07 mark to stretch the lead to four (69.65.) After CSU would split a pair of free throws Willis would make one of two of his own to make it a 70-66 NDC lead with 55 ticks on the clock. The Vikings would cut the lead to two (70-68) after a Parker layup with three seconds to go. Barker would seal it with a pair of free throws at the line as the celebration began for NDC.
NDC was paced by 23 points, seven rebounds and a pair of assists from Willis. He was 6-12 from the field, 2-5 from the 3-point line, and 9-11 at the free throw line. Barker netted 17 on five of eight shooting, 2-3 from the 3-point line, and a perfect five of five at the free throw line. Ugwuakazi, Talbert, and Harris all had eight. NDC shot 43.6 percent from the field, 35 percent (7-20) from the 3-point line, 70.8 percent (17-24) from the free throw line, and had 10 assists to go along with 18 turnovers.
Willis talked about the mindset down the stretch and heaped praise on his backcourt mate:
"When we tied the game I felt good because we were getting stops and it put the pressure on them, "Willis mentioned. "DB (Barker) and I feel we are the best backcourt in the MEC so we plan on showing that every time we step onto the floor. I expect him to make those plays late because we put in the time to be ready for those moments."
Richmond was pleased:
"We were far from perfect but we will continue to improve if we play that hard every night. I'm excited for our team to get off to a good start, now we have to use this momentum as we head into the weekend."
CSU was paced by Enaruna who had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Parker scored 13, and Williams tallied 11. The Vikings shot 45.9 percent from the field, 23.5 percent (4-17) from the 3-point line, and 44 percent (8-18) from the free throw line. They edged NDC in the rebounding battle 37-36. They had 16 assists and 15 turnovers as a team.
NDC will be back in action when they take on Seton Hill in the Conference Challenge at Slippery Rock. Tip time on Friday is set for 7:30 PM.
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