ND MBB vs High Point Box Score
The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 in 2021-22 with a 70-61 victory over High Point (1-2) in Purcell Pavilion on Tuesday night. The Irish defense held the visitors to 28 percent shooting in the second half while out-scoring the Panthers 38-26 and out-rebounding them 54-36.
Graduate student Paul Atkinson led a trio of Irish players earning double-doubles in the contest with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Nate Laszewski pulled down a career-best 16 rebounds to go along with his 10 points, while classmate Dane Goodwin added 12 points and 11rebounds.
The teams went back and forth at each other throughout the first half, with a 6-0 run by the Irish providing a slim 14-13 lead with 12:50 left. Notre Dame was earning its open looks but not connecting consistently, while High Point started the game off shooting 53% on several contested shots.
High Point’s John-Michael Wright started the game off red hot by hitting his first four shots, but senior Cormac Ryans then assumed the defensive assignment on Wright and held him to two missed shots the rest of the half. Jaden House keyed a small run at the end of the half for the Panthers and the visitors entered the locker room with a 33-32 advantage.
After High Point connected on its first three-point attempt of the second half, Notre Dame assumed control of the game with a 13-0 run propelled by a long series of defensive stops. The visitors would end up going close to four minutes without a point while Atkinson went to work for the Irish.
The graduate transfer from Yale, who missed Monday’s practice with flu symptoms, drew four of six consecutive foul shots for Notre Dame during the run and helped the Irish build a 49-38 lead with back-to-back buckets in the paint.
While Notre Dame never quite found their groove on the offensive end in the contest, the defense never wavered. Notre Dame capped the game by forcing High Point to miss eight of their final 10 shots and end up scoreless over a four-minute stretch until a last minute lay up.
Notre Dame will now go on the road for a 25-day trip that will include the Maui Jim Maui Invitational (November 22-24) and road trips to Illinois for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (Nov. 29) and Boston College (Dec. 3). The Irish will not play at home again until Saturday, Dec. 11 against Kentucky.
NOTES: The three double-doubles by Atkinson, Laszewski and Goodwin mark the first time three Irish players have earned double-doubles in the same game since Nov. 26, 2011, when Jerian Grant, Eric Atkins and Jack Cooley all posted double-doubles against Chicago State • Laszewski’s 16 rebounds are a career-high and the most for an Irish player since John Mooney pulled down 16 rebounds vs. Marshall on Nov. 15, 2019 • the double-doubles are the 10th in a career for Atkinson, fifth for Laszewski and third for Goodwin • the last time three Irish players had 10 or more rebounds in a game was Nov. 17, 2010 vs. Chicago State when Tim Abromaitis (10), Tyrone Nash (10) and Carleton Scott (11) accomplished the feat • both Atkinson and Goodwin missed Monday’s practice with the flu, while sophomore Elijah Taylor was unavailable for tonight’s game with the same symptoms.