Bear of a time
Shawnee claws Falcons, 98-75
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PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – Notre Dame played in, and lost, their first road game of the season Tuesday, dropping a 98-75 decision to the Shawnee State Bears.  The Falcons struggled with their shooting for a long stretch in the first half, putting the game out of reach by halftime.  No. 14 Notre Dame (2-3) now heads into a one-week hiatus over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend – the Falcons are slated to play game number six next Tuesday.

Junior guard Kyle Miller (Piketon, OH) led NDC in scoring, with 20 points.  Senior guard Aaron Davis (Mt. Orab, OH) led a hot-shooting Shawnee squad, with 24 points.  Shawnee State (3-1) shot 57.6 percent in the first half, 56.0 percent in the second, and 55.6 percent (35-for-63) for the game.

Notre Dame started out well – early jumpers by junior forward Dan Jones (Niles, OH), Miller, and senior point guard Jerome Pierce (Toledo, OH) gave NDC a 10-8 lead by the 16:45 mark.  But that would be the end of any semblance of accuracy for NDC for about the next 15 minutes of play.

Notre Dame was 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from the floor during that 15-minute stretch while SSU built a 24-point lead by outscoring the misfiring Falcons, 41-18.  NDC went into halftime down by that same figure, with the James A. Rhodes Center scoreboard showing the Bears in front, 51-27.

“We didn’t execute,” said NDC Head Coach Kevin Bille.  “They did a nice job taking us out of our game, then we committed a few too many turnovers, and when you do those things you can’t afford shooting slumps like the one we had in the first.”

The Falcons did rally after the first period to play a more solid brand of basketball in the second.  But not until after the Bears had extended their lead to 33 points by the midway point of the second stanza.  The Falcons righted the ship late, shooting 56.0 percent (14-for-25) and scoring 48 second-half points, to Shawnee’s 47.

Defensively, Notre Dame had no answer for the Bears’ Davis, who scored his 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting (6-for-6 from beyond the arc).  The Bears knocked down 11 treys as a team.

NDC’s Pierce continued his ascent on the Falcons’ all-time scoring list; the veteran playmaker scored 17 points to move with 50 of the program’s career scoring record.  Pierce also added a game-high six assists.

Shawnee State out-rebounded Notre Dame, 35-25.  The Falcons committed 20 turnovers, which led to 33 Shawnee points.

The Falcons’ next game is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 27, when they return to College Road to host Cedarville in the second half of a women’s-men’s twin bill.  The men’s game is scheduled for an 8:00pm tip.

Notes from the Nest...

Point guard: Jerome Pierce’s 17-point performance puts him 44 points away from tying Dave Hilborn’s NDC career record.  The 5-foot-8 point guard leads NDC this season with a 24.0-per-game average and has now scored 1,784 career points.

Bear trap: With their loss to Shawnee State Tuesday, Notre Dame is now 1-6 all-time against the Bears.

Big ‘N’, little ‘d’:  No team had scored more than 41 points in a half against the Falcons in their previous four contests.  On Tuesday, SSU scored 51 in the first half and 47 in the second.  NDC has now yielded a 50 percent shooting mark or higher in each of their three losses this season.  In their losses (Ohio Dominican, Bethel-IN, SSU), Falcon foes have combined to shoot 52.7 percent (98-for-186).