Stellar Defense, Win Over Damean Keep NDC atop the AMC!!

Some nights you don't have your best offensive night and your defense has to step up. That is exactly what occurred on Tuesday night as the Notre Dame Falcons got a hard fought 66-62 road win at Damean (NY) to stay atop the America Mideast Conference. With the win the Falcons improved to 13-6 (5-1 AMC). The loss dropped the Wildcats to 12-8 (4-3).

The Falcons were led by four players in double figures. Nick McCartney led the way for NDC with 16 points in the game. Curtis McClure tallied 15, Eric Dummermuth had his sixth consecutive double- double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Al Miller chipped in 11 to round out the double digit scorers for the Falcons.

The Wildcats also had four players in double digits. They were led by Jim Regan who had 18 points including 4 treys. Devon Dawson tallied 13 points, Ajay Rutledge had 11, and DJ Johnson netted 10.

Damean would score the first 4 points and led 4-0 before the Falcons would answer with a 6-0 run. A Regan jumper would tie it at 6 with 14:51 in the half. McCartney would nail a three for Notre Dame and then another McCartney hoop would give the Falcons a 11-6 lead before both teams would go ice cold. The Falcons would continue to play stifling defense and another trey by McCartney would cap a 12-2 run that would give the "blue and white" a 23-8 lead with 5:20 in the half. The Wildcats would answer with a 12-0 run of their own and a short jumper by DJ Johnson would cut the NDC lead to 23-20 with 1:51 in the half. The Falcons would get a pair of free throws by McCartney and then a jumper by Dummermuth. Johnson would hit a jumper right before the half and it would be 27-22 Notre Dame headed into the locker room.

The second half would go back and forth until a Jorge Ebanks jumper with 13:51 in the game would tie it at 37. The Falcons would stretch it out to six at the 9:07 mark on a Curtis McClure runner that would make it 47-41. McClure would hit another one and Nick McCartney would hit another trey sandwiched around a Damean hoop that would give the Falcons a 52-43 lead that they would not relinquish. The lead grew to 11 at 59-48 on a pair of Al Miller free throws. The Wildcats get as close as 2 at 64-62 with 11 seconds remaining but McCartney and Dummermuth would each split a pair of free throws to seal it. The Wildcats led the game in most categories despite the loss. NDC outshot the Wildcats 43 percent to 35 percent from the floor. NDC was 4 of 8 from three point land (50%) while the Wildcats were 7 of 29 (24%) , Foul shooting was not good for either squad as NDC would shoot 60 percent while the Wildcats shot 61%. Damean won the rebounding battle 35-32. Damean only had 9 turnovers as opposed to 15 for the Falcons. The Falcons will be back in action Thursday at 8 PM in Murphy gymnasium as they will do battle with Roberts-Wesleyan. Tip time is set for 8 PM.