Bad news comes in threes
Damenen treys drop NDC, 72-62
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AMHERST, N.Y. – Notre Dame slipped on the road at Daemen College (NY) Saturday in a game determined largely by 3-pointers which, coincidentally, ran NDC's conference record to 3-3. The Wildcats (15-7, 5-1) hit 15 treys in beating Notre Dame, 72-62, in the American Mideast Conference (AMC) tilt.

Notre Dame (10-14, 3-3) was led by the effort of sophomore center Karim McFarlane (Portmore, Jamaica), who garnered his 10th double-double of the season with a 22-point, 12-rebound performance. But it wasn't enough on an afternoon when the league's leading scorer, Jerome Pierce (Sr/Toledo, OH), was held to five points on 2-of-15 shooting, and when his Daemen counterpart, senior guard Dewan Stroud (Buffalo, NY), poured in 27 on the strength of seven 3-pointers.

As a team, the Wildcats hit 15 three-balls in 35 attempts. Both figures are a season-high for NDC opponents this year. The barrage from beyond the arc is nothing new for Daemen this season - DC came into Saturday's action ranked fourth in the nation in 3-pointers made (10.2 per game). Stroud and company hit nine treys in the first half and six in the second. In all, five Wildcat shooters found nylon from 3-point range during the game.

For Notre Dame, the Daemen threes and their own poor shooting (9-for-22) put the Falcons in a 16-point hole by halftime, 37-21.

In the second, NDC gradually cut into the Wildcat lead. When junior guard Kyle Miller (Piketon, OH) hit a jumper at 9:39, he brought the Blue & Gold to within three, 48-45. Daemen, however, answered with a quick 8-2 spurt that put them comfortably up for the rest of the game. Miller finished with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting.

For Notre Dame, the final 10-point deficit on the scoreboard means falling a game back in the race for one of the three postseason berths available in the AMC North. For Daemen, they win their fifth in a row and eighth of their last nine; they also remain tied with Malone College atop the AMC North Division with a 5-1 division mark.

For the game, NDC shot 47.3 percent (26-for-55) from the field, while DC shot 41.0 percent (25-for-61). Daemen attempted 35 3-pointers and 26 2-point field goals. The Wildcats won the turnover battle by a significant margin - they were plus-8, committing just seven turnovers to NDC's 15.

As if they hadn't seen enough threes on the court Saturday, the loss to Daemen ran Notre Dame's current losing streak to ... three.

The Falcons' next game is slated for Friday, Feb. 15 when they return to upstate New York to take on Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester, N.Y. Friday's 7:30pm tilt will be the opener of a back-to-back on the road in New York - the Falcons will take on the Highlanders of Houghton College in Houghton, N.Y. on Saturday (Feb. 16).