Irish Rally, Then Outlast Boston College In Overtime

Notre Dame vs. Boston College Box Score

The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team rallied late in the game to force overtime, then outlasted Boston College (9-15, 4-10) in extra time to earn a 99-95 victory and improve to 19-7 and 12-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday evening. 

It was a back-and-forth battle all night, with neither team earning more than an eight-point lead. Both squads also hit their fair share of contested shots, long three pointers and bruising baskets in the paint but no field goal was bigger than Prentiss Hubb’s turnaround bank shot with 10 seconds remaining in overtime which proved to be the game-winner. 

Dane Goodwin led the Irish with a season-high 23 points while six teammates all reached double digit scoring in the contest. Freshman Blake Wesley chipped in 18 points, five rebounds and four assists while senior Nate Laszewski put up 16 points and six rebounds off the bench. 

DeMarr Langford led Boston College with 23 points, shooting 10-of-14 from the field. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Irish offense started out hot by connecting on six of its first eight shots of the game, most of those off Goodwin’s right hand. The senior scored 10 of Notre Dame’s first 16 points by shooting 4-of-5 from the floor with two three pointers in the game’s opening minutes. 

On the other end, however, Notre Dame allowed Boston College to begin the game 6-for-10 from the field and keep pace, with the Irish up 16-13 at the first media timeout. 

Notre Dame answered in the next segment of the game, holding the Eagles scoreless over three minutes to push its lead to 20-13. BC responded after that drought, however, to connect on eight of its next 11 shots, hold Notre Dame without a field goal over a four minute span and claim a 31-30 lead at the final media timeout of the first half.

Goodwin tried to rally the Irish with five straight points as the two teams traded the lead back and forth over the next few minutes. The Eagles proved to be too strong offensively late in the half and earned a 43-39 lead at the break. 

Boston College shot 60 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and connected on four three point field goals while the Irish went without a field goal over the final 3:17 of the half. 

After the break Wesley tied the game briefly with a three pointer and it set the tone for both teams to take big swings at each other. Notre Dame was moving the ball and getting open looks while Boston College continued to score on turnaround jumpers and deep three pointers. 

There were 13 ties in the game and Paul Atkinson Jr. forced one of them at 55-55 with 13:33 remaining. Boston College came back with a James Karnik bucket, but the Eagle big man fouled Atkinson Jr. on the next Irish offensive possession for an and-one bucket and the Irish were up one point – very briefly. 

BC’s Brevin Galloway drilled a 20-foot three pointer to put his team back up two and it was Notre Dame’s turn to answer. Hubb connected on his own three pointer, then Cormac Ryan tipped in a miss and the home team was up three points. 

Notre Dame then got a scoring spurt from Wesley, hitting back-to-back buckets to force a BC timeout with the visitors down five with 8:41 left. That timeout worked as the Eagles came out with an 11-2 run to take a four-point lead with five minutes remaining. 

It was time to get to game situations again, as the teams traded points back and forth and the Irish faced a five-point deficit with 3:39 left. 

Laszewski hit two free throws to cut it to three. Wesley then found him on a nifty drive for a lay up to cut the lead to one. A Wesley free throw then tied the game with 2:40 left. 

Both teams traded free throws over the next few minutes which set Notre Dame up with the ball and eight seconds remaining. Wesley drove into the lane and had a clean look on a turnaround jumper but it just glanced off the back iron and the game went into overtime. 

Notre Dame’s free throw shooting dominated the extra session. The Irish would shoot nine for 10 in the extra five minutes but Boston College answered with desperation three pointers to keep the pressure on. 

After an offensive rebound with under 30 seconds left and up one point the Irish gave the ball to Hubb, who drove into the lane, turned around and kissed a shot high off the glass with 9.4 left to provide his team with a three-point lead. 

The Irish got a stop, then Hubb hit two free throws for a five point lead. Boston College got another three pointer to cut the lead to two, but Hubb calmly hit two more free throws with 2.9 seconds left to secure the win. 

NOTES

Goodwin logged his fourth 20-point game of the season and eighth of his career • the Irish improve to 2-0 in overtime this season (victory at Pittsburgh) • shooting 33-for-39 from the free throw line, the Irish connected on the most free throws since February 9, 2013, when Notre Dame defeated Louisville in five overtimes • it was the most free throw attempts since a win over Illinois on November 28, 2018 (also 39 in that game) • the six double-digit scorers for the Irish is the most since November of this season when the team also had six against Chaminade • in a crazy anomaly, Hubb did not record an assist in the game but led the Irish with seven rebounds.

UP NEXT

The Irish will return to the road for a key ACC matchup with Wake Forest on Saturday, February 19, 2022, at 1 p.m. ET on the Regional Sports Networks package.