Lakers Easily Get By Falcons.

The Notre Dame Falcons came into Friday night's contest with Mercyhurst  with a high octane offense. For the second straight game the Falcons had trouble finding the basket in a 68-52 loss in Erie, Pa.
  Mercyhurst (6-3) won for the fourth consecutive game Friday. They were led by three players in double figures.  James Ewing led the way with 13 points and eight rebounds to go along with three blocked shots in 27 minutes of action.  The Lakers also got a pair of 12 point games from Andy Hoying and Gerrae Williams.  The Lakers shot 50 percent (18-56) from the field and 25 percent (4-16) from the 3-point line. They also shot 50 percent (8-16) at the free throw line. The Lakers also had 12 assists and 15 turnovers.
 NDC (6-3 3-1 MEC) dropped a third straight contest away from Murphy Gym.  They were led by Will Vorhees who notched a double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds.)  Lawrence DeArmond added 12- while Tyree Gaiter netted 11. All three struggled from the floor on this night. They combined to go 9 -of- 35 between them.  Gaiter was held to just 2- of- 16 from the floor while DeArmond was 4-of-10 and Vorhees went 3- of- 9.  NDC shot 24 percent (13-54) from the floor on the game. They were even worse from the 3 point line where they shot 11 percent (2-of- 19.)  NDC stayed in the game for as long as they did because of a decisive edge at the free throw line. They shot 71 percent (24-34) at the free throw line.  The Falcons had a slight edge in the rebounding battle 42-38.  The Falcons had seven assists and 18 turnovers.
  The first five minutes saw both teams struggling to find the basket. The Lakers would lead 8-5 in the early going.  The next five minutes was much more of the same and it would be a five point Laker lead (15-10) at the halfway mark of the opening half.
  The next 5:20 segment saw Mercyhurst go on a 12-2 run to open up a 15 point lead (27-12) with 4:40 to go until halftime. The Lakers would extend the lead to 16 (29-13) before the Falcons would close the half on a 7-2 run to trim the deficit to 11 (31-20) at the intermission,
 The first 7:45 of the second half saw both teams play even basketball.  After a Lakers basket they would go ahead 46-33 with 12:15 to go. NDC would then score six of eight points at the free throw line during a 8-2 run that would trim the Lakers lead to seven (48-41.)  DeArmond, Najeeb Johnson and Vorhees would each nail a pair of free throws during the run. NDC would get it to single digits for a final time as Gaiter would split a pair of free throws at the 6:52 mark.  The Lakers would then run off the next 11 points to put the game away.
 NDC will be back to Murphy Gym on Friday, December 19th at 5:30 PM when they will battle the Pioneers of Malone. It will be the final non conference game of the season for NDC.