Johnson's Perfect Night Lifts NDC To First Road Win.

To say the Notre Dame Falcons have struggled on the road would be the understatement of the year.  Despite being winless on the road before Thursday night the Falcons put a lackluster first half behind them and collected their first road win of the season 85-82 against Urbana at the Warren G.Grimes Center.
 The Falcons (10-7 6-5 MEC) were led by five players in double figures on the evening.  Lawrence DeArmond paced NDC with yet another double-double (22 points and 14 rebounds.)- Kyauta Taylor netted 20- while Tyree Gaiter and Will Vorhees had 13 points each.  Najeeb Johnson came up big off the NDC bench.  He was a perfect five- of- five from the field and two- of- two at the free throw line for his 14 points.  None bigger than his 3-pointer that proved to be the game winner with 14 seconds left.  The Falcons shot 47 percent from the field- but struggled from the 3-point line where they shot just 24 percent (4-of- 17 on the night.)  They had a solid night at the free throw line, shooting 76 percent (25-33.)  They had 14 assists and 13 turnovers.
  The Blue Knights 4-13 (1-10 MEC) had four players in double figures.  Mike Newton poured in 20 to lead the way- Matt Cshuran scored 18- John Summers chipped in 11- while Ognjen Rebic contributed 10.  The Blue Knights shot 47 percent from the field- 45 percent (9-0f-20 from the 3-point line) and were a solid 79 percent (11-14) at the free throw line.  The Blue Knights edged NDC on the boards 36-35.  The Blue Knights had 21 assists and 16 turnovers in the loss.
  The first half saw the Blue Knights jump out to an early lead.  At the 14:17 mark Vorhees would make a layup for NDC and Urbana would lead 15-12.  The next eight minutes the teams would go back and forth but the lead would remain at three (29-26) at the 6:17 mark.  The last six plus minutes the Blue Knights would stretch the lead to nine (39-30) at halftime.
  The Blue Knights would get off to a hot start in the second half and lead by as many as 16 (63-47) with 13:53 to go.  Having not won a road game all season the Falcons looked to be in trouble but on this night they weren't going to let it happen again.
  Six minutes later after a pair of Johnson free throw's NDC would be within seven (69-62) at the 7:53 mark.  The Falcons would get to within six a couple times but they would not get over the hump until inside the three minute mark.
Down 80-74, the Falcons would get a steal and lay-in from Gaiter, followed by a DeArmond bucket off his own missed shot.  Then gaiter would get another steal and lay up that would tie the game at 80. Newton would give the Blue Knights the lead back 82-80 at the 1:29 mark.  Another DeArmond layup would knot the game at 82 with 1:13 left.  Taylor came up big with a blocked shot on the ensuing possession and DeArmond would corral the rebound.  Johnson would nail the 3-pointer off of a perfect feed from Taylor with 14 second left.  The Blue Knights would have a chance to tie it but a deep three was off the mark as the Falcons got a road win.
 NDC will be back in action Saturday when they take on Wheeling Jesuit in another road contest.  Tip time is set for 6 PM. NDC won the first meeting 79-64 back on December 6th at Murphy Gym.