SOUTH EUCLID, OHIO -- No. 10/15 Fairmont State Men's Basketball dropped a road Mountain East Conference to Mountain East Conference opponent Notre Dame, 78-73, on Wednesday night.

The Fighting Falcons are now 18-4 on the season and 13-4 in MEC play. NDC is now 14-9 on the year and 11-6 in conference action.

George Mangas connected on two free throws to give Fairmont State the 2-0 advantage with 17:17 remaining in the first half. Cole VonHandorf extended the advantage to four on back-to-back baskets with 15:52 to play in the first half. NDC took their first lead at 11-10 off a fastbreak dunk by Daylin Lee as the Falcons pushed the margin to six points on a made layup by Michael Sampson. At that point, NDC did not allow Fairmont State to regain the lead with Notre Dame taking the 31-28 lead into the halftime break.

Out of the break, NDC grew the margin to eight points off a jumper by Jaedon Willis with 18:31 to play in the second half. Fairmont State closed within three as Mangas collected a three-pointer. Zyon Dobbs hit a three-pointer to make the score 39-38 in favor of Notre Dame, but the home Falcons regained the eight-point margin after a 9-2 run capped off by a layup via Daylin Lee. Isaiah Sanders made a jump shot beyond the arc with 33 seconds as the Fighting Falcons trailed by three, but Notre Dame earned the 78-73 victory inside Murphy Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.

On the night, Fairmont State shot 41.2% (28-68) from the field with six made three-pointers and went 11-14 at the charity stripe. Sanders led all scorers with 21 points on 8-17 shooting with three assists and two rebounds. VonHandorf (17 points), Mangas (13 points), and Dobbs (12 points) each earned double-digits in the scoring column for the Falcons with Seth Younkin pulling in a game-high 15 boards in the contest.

For Notre Dame, Jaedon Willis continued his strong play for the Falcons with 19 points on an efficient 5-9 shooting as Daylin Lee added 18. DeAirius Barker and Michael Sampson rounded out the scorers in double-figures for NDC with 14 and 10 points, respectively. The Falcons were 31-69 (44.9%) from the floor and outrebounded Fairmont State 43-38 in the game. NDC also assisted on 16 of their 31 made baskets.

No. 10/15 Fairmont State Men's Basketball (18-4, 13-4 MEC) returns to Joe Retton Arena on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. to take on Alderson Broaddus (11-10, 8-9 MEC) in conference play.