Stung
Yellow Jackets top Falcons, 94-88
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SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame dropped their third straight game Tuesday night, falling behind early before coming back to lose to No. 4 Cedarville, 94-88.  The loss drops the pre-season 14th-ranked Falcons to 2-4 on the season.

Notre Dame spotted Cedarville a double-digit lead early in the game before fighting there way back into the game late in the first half.  The Yellow Jackets, ranked pre-season No. 4 on the heels of a 23-8 campaign last year, held on and hit 27 foul shots to claim a hard-fought victory.

The Falcons struggled early, misfiring on five of their first six shot attempts.  The Yellow Jackets took advantage and opened up a 13-point lead, 22-9, by the 13-minute mark.  Cedarville (4-2) was led by forward Christopher Walker (So/Kingston, Jamaica) and guard Chris Beals (So/Westerville, OH), who each scored early and often.  Walker and Beals combined to hit nine of their first 10 attempts from the floor.

The Falcons gradually climbed back into the game in the final few minutes of the first.  When freshman guard Eric Maag (Columbus Grove, OH) hit a 3-pointer from the right corner at 2:28, NDC found themselves down by just six, 43-37.  The Falcons would head to their locker room two-and-a-half minutes later with a four-point deficit, down 45-41.

Senior point guard Jerome Pierce (Toledo, OH) led NDC with 15 first-half points.  Walker led CU 13.

In the second stanza, Notre Dame battled back to take their first lead of the game when junior guard Kyle Miller (Piketon, OH) knocked down a trey at 17:46.  Miller’s three-ball gave the Falcons a 49-47 lead.

Cedarville answered with a 19-7 run and held a 64-56 lead at 12:13, after Beals hit a pair of free throws.  The Jackets extended their lead back to double digits at 9:35, when Christopher Walker hit from 19’9”.  Walker finished with 31 points, after fouling out at 2:40.

The Falcons stayed in the game, as the second half wore on.  They cut the Cedarville lead to six, at 77-71, when sophomore center Karim McFarlane (Portmore, Jamaica) found the bottom of the net on a whirling left-hander in the paint at 7:17.  Back-to-back scores by junior forward Dan Jones (Niles, OH) over the next two minutes brought NDC to within two, at 79-77.

Over the game’s last five minutes, Notre Dame fought back to take the lead and then trade baskets and leads with Cedarville down to the final 30 seconds on the Murphy Gymnasium scoreboard clock.  With a three-point lead (91-88) and the ball at 0:30, Cedarville forced the Falcons to foul on each of the next two possessions.  The Jackets hit 3-of-4 in the final thirty ticks to ice the game.  For the game, Cedarville knocked down 81.8 percent (27-for-33) of their tosses from the charity stripe.

Sophomore forward Ricardo Alliman (Kingston, Jamaica) made 10-of-12 from the line, and finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.  Senior guard Ryan Short (Springfield, OH) posted a 12-6-5 game (P-R-A).  For the game, the Yellow Jackets shot 45.3 percent (29-for-64) as a team and out-rebounded the Falcons, 43-34.

Pierce paced the Falcons with 26 points, five rebounds, and eight assists in 40 minutes of action.  McFarlane scored 19 points and hauled down a team-high seven boards.

“This was a tough loss,” said NDC Head Coach Kevin Bille of his team’s effort.  “Our guys played hard against a talented team.  They (Cedarville) came out on top, but I thought we played our best game of the year."

Notre Dame’s next game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 1, when they host Rio Grande. First tip is scheduled for 4:00pm, as the second half of a women's-men's twin bill.

Notes from the Nest...

On the rebound: Cedarville out-rebounded NDC, 43-34, for the game. The Jackets' efforts included 14 offensive boards, which led to 21 second-chance points. For the season, the Falcons own a rebound margin of -0.7 rebounds per game.

Pointing for Saturday: Pierce's 26 points give him 1,810 points for his career. The 5-foot-8 playmaker from Toledo now needs just 19 points to become the program's all-time scoring leader. Pierce and the Falcons play their next game at home - Saturday, Nov. 27, at 4:00pm against Rio Grande.

Another milestone: Pierce's eight assists against the Jackets put him just two helpers shy of another milestone. The Falcons' point guard now owns 398 career assists, which is tops in NDC history.