SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team was able to erase an 18-point deficit at home to Florida State to claim its first lead of the game off a Logan Imes three-pointer with 2:07 remaining. The Seminoles (11-12, 4-6) immediately countered with a three, their 15th of the game. Later, the Fighting Irish (11-13, 2-9) down three with six seconds left, had two cracks at it to tie the game, but both rimmed out as they fell 79-82.
The 15 Florida State three-pointers marked the most drained against the Irish all season. FSU’s Chauncey Wiggins & Robert McCray V combined for 9-16 from beyond the arc to total 37 points.
Notre Dame showed plenty of heart in the second half where they outscored Florida State, 47-41, shooting 51.5% from the field.
Braeden Shrewsberry led the Irish with 18 points on his birthday, recording four assists and five rebounds as well. Cole Certa scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half. The two combined for eight made threes.
Jalen Haralson also supplied 11 points in the second half, finishing with 15. The freshman was 5-9 from the field, 5-5 from the free-throw line, and also grabbed four rebounds. The fourth and final Irish player in double figures was Sir Mohammed with his 11 points – his sixth of the season. Mohammed also reeled in a career high eight rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Seminoles had the hot hand to start as they opened up going 5-6 from three to post an early 15-2 lead heading into the first media timeout.
Meanwhile, the Notre Dame offense struggled to get going as they opened 1-7 shooting with the first Irish field goal coming at the 14:11 mark on a three from Shrewsberry.
Trailing by as much as 18 at 9-27 with 8:25 left, the Irish chipped away at the deficit. A 6-0 Irish run was broken up by 5-0 Seminole run, but Notre Dame would find another offensive surge before the end of the half.
Down 17-34, the Irish went on a 10-0 run sparked by another Shrewsberry jumpshot. A three from Mohammed closed the deficit to as few as six with just a minute remaining, but a 5-2 Seminole run in the closing 60 seconds would make it a nine-point game at the half.
The Irish finished the half shooting 10-31 (32.3%) from the floor and 4-14 from three (28.6%), while the Seminoles were 14-36 (38.9%) from the floor and knocked down nine threes alone in the first half on 22 attempts (40.9%).
Shrewsberry led the Irish with 10 points with two triples, followed by Mohammed with nine points at the half.
Notre Dame recorded an 8-0 run, which started with back-to-back threes from Shrewsberry, which brought the home team to within three points at 49-52 at 14:19. And over the next few minutes of the game, every time the Irish inched closer, the Seminoles had a response, typically from three.
Case in point, a Somerville three-pointer pushed the FSU lead back to seven at 11:57, then a Bassong three made it eight points at 11:27.
From 11:08-8:35, Cole Certa delivered a barrage of three triples to keep the Irish close, singlehandedly trading blows with the Seminoles.
At 5:40, Certa scored his 11th straight point with a quick drive and score at the rim, once again cutting the deficit to three points, 64-67.
With 2:53 remaining, Haralson collected a long defensive rebound and slammed it home on the breakaway, tying the game at 72-all. Unfortunately, for Haralson, the freshman immediately picked up his fifth foul on the next possession.
A pair of Seminole free throws were countered with a big-time three from Imes to put Notre Dame in front at 75-74 with 2:07 remaining. Florida State responded with a 5-0 run for a four-point lead in the final 35 seconds of play.
With just under ten seconds remaining, it was a one-point game after Shrewsberry knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 79-80.
The Seminoles matched with a pair of free throws of their own to make it a three-point game yet again.
The Irish had a beautiful sideline of out-of-bounds set to get a clean look from three, and after missing and getting a quick rebound, Notre Dame would get one last look as the time expired, but would ultimately fall 79-82.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame hits the road for its midweek, which is a Tuesday night clash in Dallas against SMU. Then the Irish return home for Saturday’s Valentine’s Day matchup against Georgia Tech.
– ND –