CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Found. A. Way. The Notre Dame men’s basketball team dug deep and flipped the script on Boston College in the late hours of the night on Wednesday inside Conte Forum. The Fighting Irish (11-13, 5-8) rallied down 14 points with 14 minutes left to force not one but two overtimes. Then battled back after more adversity late in in the second OT when a player was ejected and the lead flipped. The result was a gritty 97-94 victory over the Eagles (10-14, 2-11).
Sophomore guard Markus Burton continued to show people why he’s one of the most talented in the ACC, dropping a career high 32 points. Burton shot 12-29, plus 7-9 from the free-throw line. He tallied eight points over both overtimes. He also recorded seven rebounds and three assists.
He was supplemented by his fellow ‘big three’ teammates – 20 points from Tae Davis and 16 points from Braeden Shrewsberry. Davis shot 7-16 from the floor and 6-9 from the stripe, plus grabbed six boards. He recorded four huge points in the second overtime. Shrewsberry shot 6-14 overall and 2-6 from three.
Kebba Njie came off the bench and grabbed a career high 12 rebounds to go with his seven points. No basket was bigger than Njie’s second-chance layup to push the Irish ahead 95-94 with 16 seconds left.
- The Irish completed a season sweep against the Eagles for the first time since 2019.
- It marked the largest comeback in the Coach Shrewsberry era.
- It marked the first multi-overtime win since March 16, 2022, against Rutgers in the First Four in Dayton.
HOW IT HAPPENED .
A Cole Certa near half-court heave kicked off a stretch in which ND recorded three-point plays in four of it next five scores, which included multiple three-point plays from Burton. Later a Braeden Shrewsberry jumper capped a 5-5 ND shooting stretch from the field which resulted in a 31-26 lead at 6:31.
However, that marked the last Notre Dame made field goal until right before the halftime buzzer, as Boston College made it rain from deep to fire off a 15-2 scoring spree. With six seconds left, Burton drove the length of the court and scored at the buzzer to make it 35-41 at the half.
Burton’s last-second drive pushed him into double-digits, leading the Irish with 10 points on 4-9 shooting. Notre Dame kept Donald Hand Jr. in check in the first half with two points, but Fred Payne went 3-4 from three while Dion Brown went 2-2.
Boston College possessed a very hot hand in the first half, shooting 60.7 percent from the floor and 7-12 from three-point range. Notre Dame was 48.3 percent from the floor and 3-8 from beyond the arc.
Out of the break, Shrewsberry recorded an and-one, bringing it back to one possession. Yet, Boston College tallied three-point plays on three straight possessions. A couple of ND turnovers later and BC recorded 14-3 run over a near four-minute span to build a 41-55 advantage.
Soon after, Notre Dame’s offense began to churn, recording a 5-5 shooting stretch as Boston College simultaneously went 3-3, as the deficit was cut to 10 at 53-63.
At 11:08, the Eagles were called for a technical foul in which Sundra made both his free throws, narrowing the gap to single digits.
A J.R. Konieczny corner three extended Notre Dame’s hot shooting stretch to 7-8 from the field while also making it a six-point game at 60-66. Later, a Davis and-one kept the Irish within six at 64-70 at the 7:09 media timeout.
Fast forward to three minutes remaining and the Irish still found themselves down six, at 70-76 this time. A pair of Davis free throws was followed by another gritty defensive stand with Roper and Burton tag-teaming on the steal, which was promptly followed by a Burton fast-break layup. Now, 74-76 with 2:10 left.
Davis recorded another tough move down low 40 seconds later to make it a tie game. At 1:04 a Burton jumper in the paint kept it tied at 78-all, and with 26 seconds left, Burton was tough as nails on the free throw line, making both to tie it again at 80-all. The Irish defense then stood their ground in the final seconds to force overtime.
Points were hard to come by in the first overtime with each team scoring five – Burton had four for the Irish. The Irish had the ball and a chance for the win with nine seconds left, but their three-point attempt rimmed out sending the game into a second overtime.
The Irish were up 93-90 with under 90 seconds remaining when a call shook the momentum. Julian Roper II was called for a flagrant two on a loose ball sequence. The end result was four straight Boston College points as the Irish now trailed 93-94.
But not this time. Not tonight. With the clock winding down Burton drove to the basket and was denied but Kebba Njie was there for the second-chance layup with 16 seconds on the clock. The Irish defense held as Burton grabbed the defensive board and was sent to the free-throw line where he sealed the victory.
UP NEXT
The Irish head back to the Bend in what will be a rare three-game ACC homestand – Louisville, SMU and Pitt. Up first, the Irish will host the Cardinals of Louisville, presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. That match will tip at 8 p.m. ET inside Purcell Pavilion on Sunday, Feb. 16.
The Irish will certainly be tested down the stretch. Louisville, Clemson and Wake Forest are all projected in the 2025 NCAA Tournament field, while Pitt and SMU are amongst the first eight out according to ESPN.
– ND –