SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-16, 4-12) bounced back in a major way on Saturday, defeating NC State (19-10, 10-6) in overtime, 96-90. Cole Certa, Jalen Haralson and Braeden Shrewsberry led a 2nd half offensive surge. The trio were the only three to score for Notre Dame, combining for 43 points on 14-26 shooting (53.8%). Then Cole Certa got hot in OT where he was 3-3 from beyond the arc, totaling 12 points.
Certa finished with a game-high 32 points on 9-17 shooting, 6-10 from three, 8-9 from the free-throw line. The sophomore now has three 30+ point games in ACC play, which trails only Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie (4).
Haralson poured in 20 in the second half to finish with 25 points, one shy of his career high. The freshman tied his career high mark from the free-throw line where he was 9-10. Haralson was 8-for-15 from the field. The Anderson, Indiana, native was one board shy of a double-double.
Shrewsberry had 12 of his 16 in the second half and finished 3-6 from deep, 5-10 overall. Sir Mohammed rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.
“I didn’t think we started the game the right way, but a couple of guys came in and spurred us in the first half to get back close and manageable,” Glenn & Stacey Murphy Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “I thought we scored it well, but I didn’t think we could guard them in stretches. Great adjustments from Coach Grady, Getter, Farrelly, Owens, to switch to zone late, force them to pass one more, and take some of their iso out. Great job from our guys to execute that and to keep scoring and attacking.”
Coach Shrewsberry improves to 2-1 in OT games this season and 6-3 in three years in South Bend.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The NC State offense jumped out to a quick start offensively, hitting five of its first seven shots from the field to take an 11-2 early.
It didn’t take long for Cole Certa to heat up coming out of an Irish timeout. The Irish sophomore knocked down three consecutive three pointers, including one from the corner, to cut the Wolfpack lead to just 13-11 at the first media timeout.
Sir Mohammed checked in off the bench and provided a jolt to the Irish offense, scoring a quick six points to counter an NC State offense that opened up shooting over 50% from the field. Mohammed led all Irish players with 10 points at halftime.
Notre Dame found success from behind the arc in the first half, hitting five of its first 10 from downtown. A pair of three pointers from Ryder Frost and Logan Imes cut into the Wolfpack lead. The Irish trailed by just one, 23-24, at the under-eight media timeout.
After a Jalen Haralson layup tied the game at 25, the Wolfpack responded with an 8-0 run, in large part due to back-to-back three pointers from Tre Holloman. Braden Shrewsberry ended the run with a stepback jumper as the Irish were down six with 3:49 left in the first half.
Shots were falling on both ends of the court to close the first half, as both teams combined to knock down the last nine shots from the field. NC State took a 44-38 lead into the locker room.
Notre Dame got 15 points off the bench in the opening half, including 10 from Mohammed, who led all Irish scorers at the break. However, the Wolfpack forced nine turnovers (10-0 NCST pts off turnovers) and scored 20 points in the paint to give them the edge heading into the second half.
NC State shot 60.7% from the field in the first half, 7-12 from three, and recorded 10 assists. Notre Dame was right behind that at 56.0%, 6-13 from beyond the arc.
Notre Dame’s offense didn’t falter, opening up the second half 9-11 from the field, capped off by an 8-0 run to cut the NC State lead to just one, 59-60, with 12:38 to play. Haralson, Certa and Shrewsberry combined to score all 43 Irish points in the second half.
A pair of Haralson free throws with 7:58 left made it 69-71 Wolfpack. The freshman scored eight straight points for Notre Dame to keep them within arm’s length of a potent NC State offensive attack. Haralson knocked down his first seven field goal attempts in the second half and finished with 20 points in the closing half.
The Wolfpack immediately countered with a 6-0 run spanning 80 seconds, prompting a Coach Shrewsberry timeout with 5:55 left to play.
Down 70-79, the Irish ripped off a 9-2 run to cut the lead to just two behind a pair of Certa free throws, a pair of buckets from Harleson and a three-pointer from Shrewsberry to make it 81-79 Wolfpack with 1:38 left.
Notre Dame tied the game at 81-all thanks to two clutch free throws from Haralson to conclude a 7-0 run down the stretch. Moments later, the Irish defense came up with a huge defensive stop, collapsing on all drives to the rim to send the game to overtime.
In overtime, Certa gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game. After forcing a Wolfpack miss at the other end, Imes grabbed the rebound and pushed the ball down the court, where he found a wide-open Certa, who buried the corner three to put the Irish up 87-84. Moments later, Certa hit another one, this one just in front of the logo, to keep the Irish in front by three.
Both teams exchanged free throws before Certa did it again, drilling his third triple of overtime to give Notre Dame a 93-88 lead.
The Irish defense came up huge down the stretch, holding the Wolfpack to 2-11 from the field, including 1-8 from beyond the arc in overtime. NC State missed its last five field goal attempts in overtime.
Certa capped off the Irish victory with a pair of free throws, giving him 12 overtime points and 32 points in the game, to secure the 96-90 win.
UP NEXT
The Irish will play their home finale on Wednesday, March 4, at 9 p.m. ET against Stanford on ESPNU.
– ND –