McCartney Powers Falcons To North Title!!

Nick McCartney scored 27 points to lead four Notre Dame Falcons in double figures as NDC won their ninth straight at home and clinched the AMC North Division title. The Falcons 19-9 (11-4 AMC) have yet to play the Walsh Cavaliers 26-2 (14-1) but that will all change over the next ten days. The Falcons will finnish their regular season Saturday at Walsh. Next Saturday the Cavaliers and Notre Dame will do battle at Murphy Gym with the American Mideast Conference title on the line. The winner of this game will advance to the NAIA Division two tournament as an automatic qualifier.

NDC had four players tally double numbers on Tuesday night. McCartney was 8 of 12 from the floor, 4 of 7 from long distance and 7-9 at the charity stripe for his 27 points. All four Seniors (Al Miller, Karim McFarlane, Danny Wright and Cory Emmerine saw action on Senior night. Miller scored 12 points on 3 of 10 shooting, but was good on all 6 of his free throw attempts. McFarlane had a solid game just missing a double- double. Karim scored 9 points and snatched ten rebounds. He was 3 of 6 from the floor but struggled at the stripe going 3 of 9. Curtis McLure and Eric Dummermuth also had solid games. Dummermuth posted a double- double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He was 4-12 from the floor and 4 of 4 at the line. Curtis McLure had 11 points on 5 of 9 shooting. Curtis was just 1 of 6 at the foul line. The Falcons shot 46 percent from the floor (26-56) and 46 percent from beyond the arc (5-11). They were 21-34 (62%) at the line. The Falcons lost the battle on the boards 42-35.

Daemean with the loss fell to 15-12 (7--7 AMC). They tallied three players in double figures. DJ Johnson led the Wildcats with 23 points (16 in the first half). Devon Dawson netted a double- double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Mike Maistro added 13 to round out the Wildcats double digit scorers. Daemen shot 41 percent from the floor (26-64) but struggled from long range going just 5-21 (24%). The Widcats hurt themselves at the charity stripe going just 12-22 (55%).

The Falcons jumped out of the gate quickly in this one. After a Dummermuth hoop five minutes in it was 14-3 NDC. behind a barrage of three's by D.J. Johnson and a couple of hoops from Mike Maistro the Wildcats would storm back to take a 20-18 lead halfway thru the first half. The Falcons would open up a nine point lead after a run of their own. Karim McFarlane would nail a 15 footer to give NDC a 32-23 lead. Daemen would chip away and cut the lead to 3 right before the break. Eric Dummermuth would hit a 8 footer to give the Falcons some momentum and a 38-33 lead going into the locker room.

The Falcons would come out hot in the second half and after a three ball by Dummermuth would get the lead back to ten at 49-39. The Falcons would build upon that lead and Nick McCartney would cap an 11-0 run with a free throw that would make it 62-44 with 9:20 remaining. The Wildcats would then go on a 9-0 run of their own to cut it to 62-53. The Wildcats would battle hard but would get no closer than six the rest of the way as NDC would wrap up the AMC North.