Hangin' Tough.

The Notre Dame Falcons came in winners of eight of the last 10. Monday night they faced the #1 team in the country West Liberty and gave them a battle. Ultimately though the Falcons fell 84-78 in the contest.  West Liberty improved to 16-2 overall and 10-2 in the MEC with the win. On the losing end, the Falcons fell to 12-6 overall and 6-6 in conference.
  The NDC duo of Kyauta Taylor and Will Vorhees continued a solid run of basketball recently. Taylor led the way with 25 points behind a five of eight night from the 3-point line. Vorhees tallied yet another double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds.  The leading scorer for NDC though, Tyree Gaiter who came into the game seventh in the country at more than 24 points a game was held to two of 17 shooting for nine points to go along with seven assists.  NDC shot 39 percent (30-77) from the field in the defeat.  They shot 28 percent (8 of 29) from the 3-point line- for the second consecutive time against West Liberty the Falcons could not capitalize at the foul line where they shot  56 percent (10-18.)  NDC easily won the rebounding battle 49-35.  They had 15 assists and turned the ball over 11 times.
  The Hilltoppers were led by four players in double figures on the evening.  Sever Bonifant and Zac Grossenbacher each tallied 14 points on the night- Grossenbacher also grabbed 14 rebounds.  Devin Hoehn chipped in 13- while Mike Lamberti rounded out the double digit scorers with 11.
 The Hilltoppers shot 40 percent from the field (32-80) in the victory. The 3-point line was a different story, as West Liberty shot 14 percent (4-29.)  They were a solid 73 percent (16-22) from the free throw line.  They had 19 assists to go along with 11 turnovers.
  The Falcons got off to a good start and led 19-15 seven minutes in.  After a back and forth first half NDC would trail 46-44 at the half.
  NDC got off to a good second half start and led 58-55 after a Ja'Sean Lewis basket at the 15:05 mark.  The teams would go back and forth for several more minutes.  The Hilltoppers would lead 79-73 several minutes later before a Taylor 3-pointer would bring NDC within three (79-76) at the 3:39 mark.  NDC would see the lead grow to six shortly thereafter, Gaiter would score to get NDC within four (82-78) with 1:06 remaining but that would be as close as the Falcons would get.
  NDC will be back in action Thursday night when they host West Virginia Wesleyan. Tip time at Murphy Gym is set for 7:30 PM.