CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team waged a back-and-forth battle against Boston College on Monday night which saw 17 lead changes in the contest. The Irish (7-11, 2-5), who had a lead as large as 12 in the first half, and a lead of six with five minutes remaining in the game, couldn’t hold on as they fell to the Eagles (11-6, 2-4) by the final of 63-59.
It was really a tale of two halves for Notre Dame. In the first, Notre Dame shot 51.9 percent from the field and were 6-of-12 from three, compared to Boston College’s 33.3 percent from the floor. The Irish also outrebounded the Eagles 22-13 and only turned the ball over four times. In the second, Notre Dame shot 29.2 percent and coughed it up 10 times.
With all that said, the Irish produced a late flurry and had a shot for the lead with 10 seconds left in the game, but Carey Booth’s three-point attempt rimmed out.
Speaking of Booth, the freshman impressed with a career high 13 rebounds – 10 of which were defensive boards. He also supplied five points.
Freshman guard Markus Burton recorded his highest first-half total all season with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. The Mishawaka native finished with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists. Burton has now recorded double-digit points in 11 straight games.
And keeping with the freshmen theme, Braeden Shrewsberry also finished in double figures with 12 points tonight on 5-of-9 shooting. He’s now produced 57 points over the last four games.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first 6.5 minutes were an up-and-down track meet, for the first media timeout didn’t occur until 13:39. Burton ignited the offense early, scoring seven of the team’s first nine points to put the Irish up 9-7 at said timeout.
After BC’s Mason Madsen scored five straight, Shrewsberry and Zona responded with back-to-back treys in 30 seconds to give the visitors a 16-12 lead midway through the opening half.
Later down one at the 8:04 mark, Shrewsberry hit his second three of the game, followed by a jumper from Burtonk, and a three from Roper II; thus, an 8-0 run within 65 seconds which pushed the Irish ahead 24-17 at the 6:03 media.
Immediately out of the timeout, Burton kept the hot hand and drained two jumpers on back-to-back possessions. Later, a Booth three-pointer made it a 15-2 scoring run over a 4.5-minute span, extending the lead to 31-19 with 3:33 remaining.
Boston College’s Jaeden Zackery scored five straight but the freshmen duo of Burton and Shrewsberry countered with back-to-back baskets. Eventually, a Tae Davis free throw with 18 seconds left gave the Irish a 10-point lead, but BC’s Madsen drained a three at the buzzer to make it up a seven-point game with Notre Dame up 36-29.
Now, a reoccurring issue for Notre Dame this season has been slow second half starts and tonight Boston College came out and scored the first eight points to regain the lead at 37-36. The drought was ended by Shrewsberry at 16:17 and he quickly scored four straight to get back the lead at 40-39.
Turnovers plagued the Irish to start the second half. Notre Dame recorded four in a four-minute stretch and ultimately faced a five-point deficit down 47-42. At that point, the Irish had committed six turnovers in the second half and they had only surrendered four in the entirety of the first half.
Next, Konieczny provided a spark by draining a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back possessions as the lead went back to the Irish at 48-47 with 8:43 remaining. Later at 7:06, Davis stepped up with a big offensive board then an and-one to push the Irish up 53-49. Next, a pair of Burton free throws made it 55-49 and a 13-2 run for the Irish.
Yet, BC’s Quinten Post, who had been held in check up to this point, caught fire and drained three straight buckets to go on an individual 8-0 run to recapture the lead at 57-55 with 3:34 left. Konieczny ended the run with a pair of free throws to tie the game with three minutes remaining.
With just under a minute left, Post broke the tie by striking from the top of the key to put the Eagles up 60-57. Out of a Notre Dame timeout, the Irish couldn’t get a shot up after being called for an offensive charge. Now with 24 seconds remaining, the Irish had to foul and Boston College just converted one at the line.
Burton then drove the length of the court and converted the layup to cut the deficit to just two points at 61-59 with 14.0 seconds on the clock. Burton was fouled on the play and was sent to the line where he missed the frow throw. However, Notre Dame grabbed the board and immediately took the timeout.
Now with 11.7 seconds left, Notre Dame found Booth in the corner for a three for the lead and it just rimmed out. Boston College then made both its free throws down on the other end to put the game out of reach and bring it to its 63-59 conclusion.
UP NEXT
After playing two games in three days, the Irish will have some time off from competition – eight days in fact. Notre Dame will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 24, and will look to turn Purcell Pavilion green when they do. The Miami Hurricanes come to town on the 24th and it’s the annual ‘Irish Wear Green’ game. The home squad will break out the greens for the only time this season and encourage all fans to do the same. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
— ND –