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Falcon first-half woes continue at Mt. St. Joseph
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CINCINNATI – Notre Dame lost to Mt. St. Joseph Tuesday, 83-68. The Falcons fell behind early in the road game, spotting the Lions 15 points by the 10-minute mark of the first half due to a flurry of turnovers mixed with poor first-half shooting. The loss comes in the first half of a two game "River City" road trip for the Falcons; NDC travels to Louisville Thursday to play Spalding (KY).

Notre Dame (4-8) suffered through turnovers and a team shooting slump in the early minutes of Tuesday's game. By 10:54, the Falcons found themselves down 25-10. By halftime, NDC was down 17, 41-24, and the Lions had held the Falcons' leading scorer, senior guard Jerome Pierce (Toledo, OH), without a point.

Mt. St. Joseph (4-5) displayed a balanced floor game and roster depth in taking control of the action at the Harrington Center in the first. The Lions forced NDC into bad decisions on multiple occasions while playing 12 men.

In the second frame, Notre Dame came out sizzling. The Falcons furiously rallied to within one point by the 11:49 mark by way of a 25-9 run. Three consecutive 3-pointers, two by freshman guard Eric Maag (Columbus Grove, OH) and one by Pierce, put the score at 50-49 and seemingly had NDC back in the game.

The Falcon rally, however, was extinguished just as fast. MSJ's Michael Eirons connected for eight points over the next minute-and-a-half to take back the momentum for the Lions. Eirons would finish with 22 points, and NDC would get no closer than six points the rest of the way. The Lions went on a 12-3 run over the final two minutes of the game to run the final margin of victory to 15 points, 83-68.

Each team shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) over the final stanza. The Falcons hit 11 3-pointers as a team in their second half comeback bid.

Maag finished as the high-scorer for the Falcons - the first-year guard scored 18 points off the bench. Pierce added 16 points and four assists. Both players scored all their points in the second half.

Sophomore center Karim McFarlane (Portmore, Jamaica) scored 11 points and hauled down a game-high 12 rebounds for NDC, which out-rebounded MSJ, 40-33. The second-year pivot also swatted five field goal attempts.

Senior forward Keith Bowden (Akron, OH) scored eight points and collected 11 boards.

For the game, NDC shot 42.6 percent (26-for-61) and committed 20 turnovers to MSJ's nine.

The Lions' Mitchell Goldschmidt was the game-high scorer; he poured in 23.

Notre Dame travels to Louisville, Kentucky, Thursday to take on Spalding University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00pm.

Notes from the Nest...

Miller milestone: Kyle Miller (Jr/Piketon, OH) became the fourth player in NDC history to score 1,000 points Tuesday against Mt. St. Joseph. At 4:13 in the first, Miller knifed in on a layup to score his 1,000th and 1,001st career points. He scored 12 on the night and is averaging 14.6 points per game on the season. The other members of the Falcons' 1,000-point club are Jerome Pierce, Dave Hilborn (2001-05) and Paul Benjamin (2001-05).

Mane event: The Lions compete in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and are classified NCAA-III. They are now 2-0 all-time versus NDC, and their win Tuesday snapped a four-game losing skid.

Road blocks: Karim McFarlane's five blocks on the road Tuesday give him a team-high 28 for the season. The sophomore from Jamaica has now collected five blocks in a game on three separate occasions this season. His 2.33 blocks per game is tops in the American Mideast Conference (AMC).

High note: Eric Maag's 18 points in Cincinnati Tuesday marks a career-high for the freshman from Columbus Grove, Ohio. Maag was 6-of-10 from the field at Mt. St. Josephs, including 5-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc. For the season, Maag is averaging 8.0 points per game, and he's a 39.0 percent (23-for-59) 3-point shooter.