SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-9, 2-5) dug deep and erased a 13-point deficit to record a 68-64 victory over Boston College (9-10, 2-5) on Saturday night inside Purcell Pavilion – Presented by Verizon. It marked their third double-digit come-from-behind win on the season and their largest comeback of the 2025-26 campaign.
The Blue & Gold outscored the Eagles 44-29 in the second half, marking the most points scored in a half in an ACC game this year. Notre Dame shot 50.0 percent from the field in the second half, where they were led by Braeden Shrewsberry and Jalen Haralson.
Shrewsberry finished with a game-high 22 points, marking his second-highest scoring output of the season and second ACC game with 20+ points. The junior was 8-17 from the field and 4-6 from the stripe. Shrewsberry hit the biggest shot of the night, draining a three with 1:26 remaining to push the Irish up five.
Jalen Haralson recorded 11 of his 17 points in the second half and finished 8-13 overall on the night. Carson Towt reeled in 13 boards, seven offensive, to go along with his six points and two assists.
With tonight’s win, Notre Dame has now won three straight in the series against Boston College.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Boston College made its first 3-6 from the field, while Notre Dame started 0-8, all resulting in an early 7-0 deficit by the first media timeout.
Shrewsberry got the Irish on the board with a floater in the paint at 14:45, followed by a Sundra three to bring some life to the offense. Another Shrewsberry jumper would bring the Irish within four at 7-11 at 13:36.
Next, the Eagles ripped off a quick 7-0 run, capping a 5-7 stretch from the field to push their lead to double digits at 11 points. Ryder Frost ended the drought with a three, converting his first shot of the game at 11:10.
BC’s Fred Payne’s second triple of the game pushed the Eagles lead back to double digits as he got to 12 points by the 9:45 mark, the same total as ND at the under-eight media (ND 12-21 BC).
Looking to attack the basket, Notre Dame went 4-for-5 in a two minute stretch with back-to-back buckets from Haralson coupled with finishes from Shrewsberry and Mohammed to make it 20-27 with 4:07 left in the half.
Notre Dame cut it to as few as five, but the Eagles would outscore the Irish 8-2 in the final two minutes to lead 24-35 at halftime.
While the Irish shot 32.3 percent on 10-31 shooting from the floor, the Eagles were 46.7 percent from the floor on 14-30 shooting. The Irish knocked down just two threes shooting 15.4 percent from behind the arc with Boston College knocking down six triples on 35.3 percent shooting from three.
Shrewsberry led the Irish with 10 points at the half, followed by Haralson with six points. Payne led the Eagles with 12 points, followed by Luka Toews who didn’t miss a shot in the first half. Toews had 11 points on 4-4 shooting.
The Irish offense opened the half with a 10-0 run in just two and a half minutes with Shrewsberry leading the offensive charge with five of the 10.
Notre Dame held Boston College to just one field goal for over a seven minute stretch, while cashed in on 7-of-8 shots to cut the deficit to one at 42-43 with 11:33 remaining.
At 10:40, Cole Certa drained a three from downtown and gave the Irish their first lead of the game. The ball was then put back in the hands of Haralson who attacked the rim and converted back-to-back layups, 50-48 at 7:50 media.
Boston College was charged with a Class A technical foul at 7:03, which led to four straight points and free throws from Towt and Certa.
Fast forward to three minutes remaining and the Irish had a five-point lead. They turned to Haralson once more as the freshman drove into the paint and scored.
The seven point advantage dwindled to two with just under two minutes remaining. Shrewsberry came in clutch with the big-time three at 1:26 to make it a five-point game yet again.
For the next 1:16 both teams were scoreless, until there was just ten seconds left – the Eagles would hit a triple make it a two-point game. The Eagles fouled Shrewsberry on the inbounds pass, sending him to the charity stripe where he knocked down both.
With the Irish in front 66-62, the Eagles made one last shot to make it 66-64, but would follow it with a bench technical foul after calling a timeout with none remaining.
Certa capped off the win by making both free throws to secure the 68-44 win over Boston College.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will remain home and host #14/15 Virginia on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
– ND –