A Little Payback!

The Notre Dame Falcons improved to 15-6 overall and 9-6 in the MEC with a 85-68 win over the University of Charleston on Thursday night. With the loss Charleston fell to 11-10 overall and 8-7 in the MEC. With the victory NDC avenged a 73-66 loss on December 5th at Murphy Gym.
  Tyree Gaiter paced the Falcons with 23 points and seven assists in this one.  Gaiter is in the top five in the country averaging seven assists a game on the season.  Kyauta Taylor notched a double-double with 22 points to go along with 10 rebounds- while reigning MEC Player of the week Will Vorhees contributed 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds.  The Falcons shot 43 percent (31-72) as a team- they shot 52 percent (13-25) from the 3-point line- the free throw line was a struggle though as they shot 67 percent (10-15) on the evening.  The Falcons edged Charleston on the boards 39-38.  They had 17 assists and just seven turnovers in the win.
   The Golden Eagles were led by a double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds) from Aleksander Kesic- Justin Coleman also contributed a double-double (11 points and 10 rebounds-) while Tino Ditrapano netted 10.  The Golden Eagles shot 46 percent (27-59) as a team- shooting 40 percent (8-20) from the 3-point line- they shot a woeful 55 percent (6-11) from the free throw line.  The Golden Eagles had 12 assists and 18 turnovers.
  The Falcons opened up the contest by the scoring the game's  first nine points and never looked back.  After a Gaiter layup at the 18:00 mark of the opening half NDC had a 9-0 lead.  The Falcons would stretch that lead to 15 (17-2) after a Vorhees layup at the 14:21 mark of the half.  The Golden Eagles would then trim the lead to six (17-11) after a Justin Coleman basket at the 12:12 mark.  Charleston would get to within three (20-17) after a Jordan Smith layup at the halfway mark of the half.  NDC would score the next five but the Golden Eagles would again have an answer. They would once again get to within three (28-25) after a Coleman 3-pointer with 7:06 left until halftime.  NDC would use a 13-0 run to get their largest lead of the half (47-28) with 1:15 left in the half. The lead would be 16 (47-31) at halftime.
  The teams would trade 3-pointers to open the second half.  The Golden Eagles would get the lead back to 11 (50-39) after a Cameron Dozier layup with 16:21 to go.  The Falcons would take control the rest of the way, as they would lead by as many as 23 (77-54) at the 8:03 mark.  NDC would cruise to the victory from there.
  NDC will be back in action Saturday when they travel to West Virginia State.  The Falcons were a 104-87 winner over the Yellow Jackets at Murphy Gym on December 3rd.  Tyree Gaiter went off for 42 points in the first meeting.  Tip time Saturday is set for 4 PM.