Falcons Snap Skid!

The Notre Dame Falcons (5-11) snapped a seven game losing streak Saturday with a 85-84 overtime win over Malone At Murphy Gymnasium. The win was the Falcons first since defeating Roberts Wesleyan December 18th.

Five Falcons tallied double figures in the win. Phil Biggs and Troy Baugh each registered double-doubles for NDC. Biggs patrolled the paint with 17 rebounds to go along with his 19 points. Baugh stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Nate Ensz also came up big scoring 14 points of his own. Taylor Reiger (13) and Marcquice Taylor (11) rounded out the double figure scorers for the Falcons. NDC shot 43 percent from the field and hit 4-13 from 3-point range. The Falcons hit 72 percent (23-32) from the free throw line. They out rebounded Malone 42-37. The Falcons had 19 assists to go along with 11 turnovers.

Malone fell to 8-11 on the season with the loss. Four Pioneers scored in double figures on the afternoon. Eric Coblentz paced the Pioneers with 18 points, Zach Bates netted 16, while Isiah Elliott and Corey Veldhulzen had 12 points each. The Pioneers shot 40 percent from the floor and hit 10-21 from the 3-point line. The Pioneers were solid at the foul line shooting 85 percent (24-28). They had 14 assists to go along with 12 turnovers.

The Pioneers jumped out of the gate quickly and scored the game's first six points before a Taylor Reiger 3-pointer would cut that lead in half. The Falcons would open up a 19-12 at the 12:24 mark of the opening half. Malone would go on a run of their own and the game would be tied at 31 with 2:27 in the half. The last 2:27 would be played evenly until a Malone bucket right before the break would give them a 40-39 halftime lead.

The second half would start with a 6-0 NDC run, but later Malone would counter with a 10-0 run to retake the lead. NDC would then go on a run of their own to open up a eight point lead with 8:32 in regulation. Over the next two minutes the Pioneers would counter with a 8-0 run to knot the game at the 6:30 mark. The two teams would then go back and forth until the Pioneers would take a two point lead with 28 seconds to go. A Troy Baugh jumper tied the game once again with six seconds and forced overtime.

Phil Biggs scored six of the Falcons eight points in the overtime and snapped the skid. The Falcons will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Urbana. Urbana defeated the Falcons 78-63 in the first meeting.