SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-17, 4-13) fell 78-86 to the Stanford Cardinal (19-11, 8-9) in a late-night battle in the final home game of the season. Stanford’s hot shooting made it difficult for the Irish defense, as the Cardinal went 57.1 percent from the floor and 12-23 (52.2%) from three.
The Irish had one of their best games from the free-throw line, converting 25-28 (89.3%). The Blue & Gold shot 43.1% from the field and 9-22 (40.9%) from three-point range.
The Irish were led by Jalen Haralson with 19 points, shooting 3-6 from the floor and a career best 13-15 from the free throw line. The freshman also grabbed five rebounds and three assists.
He was followed by Cole Certa with 17 points as he went a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. The sophomore has now produced eight straight games in double figures, totaling 164 points in that span.
Braeden Shrewsberry went 3-7 from behind the arc as he finished with 14 points and five boards. Brady Koehler and Logan Imes finished with 10 points a piece, while Garrett Sundra led the Irish with six rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Fighting Irish led 9-8 at the first media timeout with eight of those points belonging to freshman Brady Koehler.
Next, Stanford got red hot, completing a 12-14 shooting stretch from the field to jump out ahead 38-28. The Cardinal ultimately started 7-10 from beyond the arc. On the flip side, Notre Dame relied on the trio of Imes, Haralson and Shrewsberry to keep pace, as they combined for 17 points during that early stretch.
Diving deeper, from 9:41-7:35, Shrewsberry recorded 8 points behind 2 triples; which was then outdone by Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie who recorded 11 points behind 3 triples from 8:37-6:04. Okorie’s surge kept Stanford out ahead by double digits at 30-40. Soon after, Certa banged in a three to record five straight, which cut the deficit to 35-42.
The Irish would ultimately trail 37-45 at halftime with Shrewsberry and Haralson leading the offensive charge with nine points a piece for the Irish. Okorie had 13 at the break.
Notre Dame shot 40.7 percent from the floor on 11-27 shooting and 44.4 percent from three on 4-9 shooting, while Stanford shot an impressive 69.2 percent from the field shooting 18-26 and 61.5 percent from three as they went 8-13 from behind the arc.
Fast forward to 13:25 on the clock in the second half and Notre Dame found itself down nine. That’s precisely when an Irish duo gave the home team and crowd some life, as Carson Towt recorded a slam followed by a Cole Certa three.
Stanford called a timeout to halt the Irish momentum and it worked. Coming off an 0-8 stretch from the field, the Cardinal made three straight and tallied a 9-2 scoring run to go up 11.
An Imes jumper in the paint plus Shrewsberry three was countered by a three-pointer from Stanford’s Jeremy Dent-Smith, who hadn’t missed yet in the game (5-5 FG, 4-4 3PT). The Irish now trailed 58-67 with 7:13 left to play.
Over the next four minutes, Imes would hit a pair of threes to keep the offense moving but Stanford got hot from the floor once again. With 3:25 remaining, the Irish trailed 68-75, as the Cardinal went into the media timeout on an 8-12 shooting stretch.
A pair of Haralson free throws made it a five-point game with 2:35 to play. The defense then forced a shot-clock violation in which they capitalized again with another pair of Haralson free throws, cutting it to 72-75.
Next, Stanford answered on the ensuing possession with a three. Then, Haralson took charge of the offense with a quick score, 74-78. The Cardinal then went to the free-throw line in which they went 1-2, making it a five-point game.
Haralson went to work again, quickly getting it down the court and earning a trip to the stripe. The freshman converted both, making both to make it a one-possession game with just under a minute remaining.
In just 20 seconds time, the Cardinal would go on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 84-76. Haralson would have one last finish at the rim to make it 78-84 with 17 seconds left, but two more Stanford free throws would cap off their win as the Irish fell 78-86.
UP NEXT
One last game remains in the regular season and now the Fighting Irish need two things: a win at Boston College and a Pitt loss at Syracuse. If that happens, they’ll qualify for the 2026 ACC Tournament.
Notre Dame and Boston College will tip off at Noon ET this Saturday inside the Conte Forum on ESPNU.
– ND –