Cleveland Reporter

In the first Mountain East Conference matchup in nearly a month, Notre Dame College took care of business on the road. Jaedon Willis led all scorers in the game with 26 points, and tied a season-high with five made three-pointers, helping NDC to an 83-77 win against Frostburg State University, on Wednesday.

In what has become a trend at the beginning of games for the Falcons, the three-ball was falling. After Daylin Lee put down a pair of early free throws, he knocked down a three and then Willis would put a three through the net on the next possession to give NDC an 8-2 lead with 18:28 to go in the first.

Frostburg State found a way to stick around all game. After falling behind by six points within the first two minutes of the game, the Bobcats' Juston Bailey hit back-to-back threes and Tairell Fletcher tied the game at 10 with a layup.

Despite knocking down shots, Notre Dame could not push the lead past nine points in the first 10 minutes of the contest. Willis continued to pour it in from all over the floor, including a tough three with contact at the 12:04-mark in the opening half. He knocked down the shot, was fouled and finished off the four-point play at the free throw line.

The Falcons' lead did expand to double-digits with less than eight minutes to go before halftime. DeAirius Barker found Jamarr Talbert Jr., who knocked down a three. On the other end, Talbert tipped the ball into the air to his teammate Andre Harris. Harris took the ball down the court for a layup and NDC led, 34-23.

NDC took its largest lead of 14, near the end of the half. Tyland Crawford passed the ball up the floor to Willis and Falcons' leading scorer hit his third 3-pointer of the half, with eight seconds left. Willis went into the halftime break shooting 60-percent, both from the floor (6-for-10) and from three-point range (3-for-5).

The Falcons led 49-35 at halftime, and they have now scored over 45 points in the first half of four games this season. NDC went 47-percent (14-for-30) from the floor and 47-percent (8-for-17) from long range in the first 20 minutes.

To start the second half, everything was going the Falcons' way. As Frostburg State attempted to bring the ball up the court, Harris stole it away and sent it over to Willis. He then launched a shot near the halfcourt logo and connected, forcing an FSU timeout, with 16:40 to go.

Frostburg State's Jason Murphy scored on a tip-in layup, but Notre Dame responded when Crawford put down another three, with 16:10 on the clock. Twenty seconds later, Harris stole the ball and took it all the way for a two-handed dunk, giving the Falcons a 59-44 lead.

However, Notre Dame began to go cold from the field. FSU put together a 10-2 run and cut the deficit to seven points, 61-54, with 11:53 to go in the game. Lee was fouled and hit two free throws for the Falcons and then Harris drove to the basket for a layup and NDC quickly pushed the lead back to 11 points.

The Bobcats had momentum late in the game as Bailey went to hoop, making the layup and was fouled. He knocked down the free throw, and FSU trailed by just three points, 76-73, with about two minutes remaining.

A minute later, a technical foul was called on Frostburg State and Willis put two free throws through the hoop. NDC got the ball back after the free throws and Barker was fouled, went to the line and hit two more. NDC's lead grew to seven points and Frostburg's momentum was extinguished.

Willis had eight points in the second half and finished with 26. Lee added seven points and five boards in the second stanza, finishing with 14 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Notre Dame shot just 28-percent from the floor in the second half and 21-percent from three. Harris added 10 points and eight rebounds in the game.

Notre Dame will come home for a matchup with Fairmont State University, on Jan. 7. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. 

Original source can be found here.