SOUTH BEND, Ind. – It was a night of the Walking Bucket and then the Certa-fied Bucket. The Notre Dame men’s basketball team clawed back from down nine in the second half and then received a game-winning three from Cole Certa in the corner as the Fighting Irish (13-17, 7-12) knocked off the Stanford Cardinal (19-11, 11-8), 56-55.
Cole Certa. BIG TIME BUCKET.#GoIrish☘️ x @ColeCerta pic.twitter.com/i2roVRSQMO
— Notre Dame Men's Basketball (@NDmbb) March 6, 2025
With the victory, the Irish have officially clinched a spot in the 2025 ACC Tournament in Charlotte.
Sophomore guard Markus Burton once again did his thing with a team-high 24 points, marking his fourth consecutive game with 20-plus. The Mishawaka native tallied 17 points in the second half. Burton entered tonight’s game leading the ACC in scoring.
Junior forward Tae Davis led in rebounding with eight to go with his nine points and four assists. The game’s hero, Cole Certa was 2-3 from beyond the arc.
The Irish also got a boost from a returning Matt Allocco. The graduate guard recorded seven points and seven rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Stanford shot 23.3% in the first half but owned a 24-21 halftime lead. Notre Dame tied its season low for a half with 21 points, shooting 25.0 percent from the floor and just 6-12 from the free-throw line.
An Irish 8-0 run capped by a midrange jumper from a returning Allocco gave the home squad a 10-7 lead at the 11:01 mark. Notre Dame’s defense kept Stanford scoreless for over six minutes. In fact, Stanford recorded a 1-17 shooting stretch during the first half.
At 5:33, the Cardinal fired off a 10-0 run to go up 16-22, which was finally halted by a deep three from Cole Certa. Burton later connected on a pair of free throws to bring it to the halftime score of 21-24. Burton led at the break with seven points.
Burton said give me the rock to start the second half as the sophomore recorded 10 of the first 14 points to keep it close at 35-36. Stanford then built some wiggle room with a 10-2 run to go up 37-46 with 8:51 left, prompting a Coach Shrewsberry timeout.
Coach’s emotions during the timeout were infused with his squad because they soon recorded a 15-0 run to retake the lead at 52-46 with 3:27 remaining. Allocco provided a huge spark during the run. He capped a Notre Dame five-point possession with a trey then down on the defense end took a charge to bring the fans to their feet.
However, Stanford threw a counter punch with an 8-0 run over two minutes to reclaim the lead up 52-54 with 1:09 on the clock.
Out of a Notre Dame timeout, Tae Davis went to the free-throw line to shoot two and converted one. The Irish defense then delivered a stop to give the offense a chance for the win down one with 27.8 seconds left.
Enter Cole Certa. Tae Davis drove to the basket and dished to the right corner where Certa was waiting then swish. The Irish defense came up big one more time to finish off the 56-54 victory.
UP NEXT
Only one game left of the regular season and it happens on Saturday, March 8, inside Purcell Pavilion. It’s Senior Day so arrive 30 minutes early for the special pregame recognition. It’ll be Notre Dame hosting Cal at 4 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
– ND –