Taylor Pushes NDC Past Urbana.

Kyauta Taylor tied a career high with 35 points and the Notre Dame Falcons knocked off Urbana 94-86 at Murphy Gym Thursday night. With the win NDC improves to 12-5 and 6-5 in the MEC. The win was the Falcons eight in the last 10. The loss was the 11th straight for the Blue Knights as they fall to 1-15 and 0-11 in the MEC.
   Taylor was 13 of 25 from the field- nailed seven of 13 from the 3-point line-and hit two of four from the free throw line to tie his career high. The sophomore from East Tech added seven rebonds and five assists.  Will Vorhees and Ja'Sean Lewis each notched double-doubles. Vorhees scored 17 points and 11 rebounds- while Lewis scored 10 points to go along with 11 rebounds.  Tyree Gaiter also scored in double figures with 16 points. The Cleveland Heights product continues to get to the free throw line at will, as he went 10-13 from the line in this one.  NDC shot 46 percent (32-70) as a team for the game.  They shot at a 39 percent clip (9-23) from the 3-point line.  NDC shot 72 percent (21-29) from the free throw line in the game.  NDC handily won the rebounding battle 44-33.  They had 23 assists and turned the ball over 14 times.
  Mike Newton led the Blue Knights in scoring with 27 points. He went 10-14 from the field, including four of five from the 3-point line, while going a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line.  Carlos Jackson made four of seven 3-point tries on his way to a 18 point outing.  Austin Adams scored 13- and- Dmitri Abner scored 10 to round out the double digit scorers.
  The Blue Knights shot 51 percent (31-61) from the floor.  They shot 52 percent from the 3-point line (11-21.)  Urbana shot at a 72 percent clip (13-18) from the free throw line.  They had twice as many as turnovers (16) as they did assists (eight.)
  Taylor's big night started earl as he scored 14 of the team's first 20 points.  NDC would lead 20-16 with 13:10 in the opening half.  NDC would stretch the lead to eight (30-22) at the 9:52 mark behind hot shooting and a decisive advantage on the boards.  The Falcons would lead by as many as 11 on several different occasions, the first being 37-26 after a Lewis dunk at the 5:48 mark. The advantage would remain 11 (41-30) after a Marco Colombo layup at the 3:26 mark.  The Blue Knights would run off the next seven points, before a Vorhees old fashioned three point play would give the Falcons a seven point advantage (44-37) at the half.
  NDC would get a solid contribution from Ryan kickoff in the beginning of the second half. He would score the first four points of the half to get the lead back to 11 (48-37.)  A Tyree Gaiter layup with just under 14 minutes to go would stretch the Falcons lead to 16 (64-48.)  NDC looked to be in control but the Blue Knights would not go away.  They would go on a 17-6 run that would cut the NDC lead to five (70-65) with 8:33 to go.  Taylor would respond with one of his seven 3-pointers to get the lead back to eight.
  The Falcons would lead by 13 (86-73) with a little under three minutes to go. After a NDC bucket made the lead 15 (88-73) the Blue Knights would get the lead back to single digits once again.  NDC would make seven free throws in the final minute to "ice" the victory.
  NDC will be back in action Saturday when they travel to #1 West Liberty. Tip time is set for 4 PM.  In the first meeting between the two teams the Hilltoppers escaped with a 106-103 overtime win back on November 21st.