SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The (RV) Notre Dame men’s basketball team (8-3) has won three-straight games as they defeated the Idaho Vandals (6-4) in an 80-65 battle inside of Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday night. The Fighting Irish shot a blistering 61.3 percent in the second half, where they outscored Idaho 47-32. Cole Certa, Jalen Haralson and Braeden Shrewsberry all recorded double-digit points in the second half alone.
Jalen Haralson now has back-to-back games with 20 points, leading the Irish tonight on 8-16 shooting. It marked his ninth straight game in double figures
Carson Towt recorded his third double-double of the season, finishing with an impressive season-high 19 points on 9-12 shooting while also grabbing 15 rebounds. Towt is now 15-18 from the floor over the past two games.
The three-point shooting duo of Cole Certa and Braeden Shrewsberry finished with a combined 29 points as they shot a collective 7-11 from deep. Certa finished with 15 points, shooting 3-4 from three and was followed by Shrewsberry with 14 points on 4-7 shooting from behind the arc.
Certa is now 13-23, aka 56.5 percent, from three over the past three games.
Freshman Brady Koehler made his defensive presence known, blocking a season best four shots and grabbing four rebounds. Logan Imes tied his career high in assists with four.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Haralson was the Irish spark, leading the offensive charge to start as he scored nine of Notre Dame’s 14 initial points to put them in front 14-8 just five minutes into the game.
Carson Towt kept his perfect touch rolling from the last game, converting a pair of floaters to go with threes from Mohammed and Shrewsberry. Mohammed connected on his second triple just a mere 90 seconds after his first, keeping the Irish out ahead at 22-16.
Brady Koehler followed with a tough finish at the rim to give Notre Dame their biggest lead of the half, up 24-16, heading into the 7:52 media timeout. Defensively, the Irish held Idaho to a four-minute scoring drought.
Yet, the Vandals came to life with a 12-2 run to go out in front with 4:48 remaining in the half.
Notre Dame turned to Towt who converted back-to-back layups to give the Irish a brief lead at 30-28. The Vandals immediately fired back with another jumpshot to tie it up at 30-all. Towt ultimately recorded seven consecutive points for the Irish and was in double figures before the half (had 11 points at halftime)
Soon after, Certa’s first bucket of the game tied it at 33-all in the final minute and that would ultimately become your halftime score.
Notre Dame shot 13-30 (.433) compared to Idaho’s 12-30 (.400). The Irish scored 20 of their points in the paint and held a slight rebounding margin at 19-16.
Haralson attacked the rim early in the second to give the Irish a four-point lead but was counteracted when a pair of Idaho three-pointers sandwiched a Certra triple, all resulting in a 42-41 ND lead at 16:31.
Shrewsberry’s second three of the night would mark Notre Dame’s fourth straight make but they couldn’t garner any separation, for Idaho made their third in a row, simply trading blows as the Irish held a small 45-43 lead at the 15:16 media.
Notre Dame extended its hot hand to a 7-9 shooting stretch from the floor, with the Vandals countering with a pair of threes, 52-49 Irish with 11:30 remaining.
Seven straight points from Certa pushed the Irish to a 57-51 lead, followed by a pair of finishes at the rim from Towt and Imes to make it a 61-54 ballgame with just under nine minutes remaining.
Coming out of the media timeout, Shrewsberry hit another dagger as his three-pointer would give the Irish a 10-point advantage. It marked a 12-16 shooting start to the second half.
A 5-0 Idaho run cut the deficit in half and while Haralson traded buckets with the Vandals, it was a four-point game at 68-64 with 6:13 left in the game.
Another Shrewsberry trey, who was now 4-5 from deep, put Purcell back on their feet as it was now a 71-64 ballgame. He was followed by a Towt jumpshot, but the deep, contested Certa three would really make the Purcell crowd erupt.
A Haralson jumper capped off the 10-1 run heading into the final media timeout as the Irish had a 13-point advantage with a score of 78-65 with 3:14 remaining.
Shrewsberry would knock down one last jumper to cap off the Irish 9-0 run to close it out, holding the Vandals scoreless through the final 5:30 of play to secure the 80-65 victory.
UP NEXT
The Irish look to add to their winning streak when they host Evansville on Saturday, Dec. 13, inside Purcell Pavilion. That contest will tip off at 2 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
– ND –