The latest chapter of the storied Holy War rivalry went Notre Dame’s way on Saturday night at Purcell Pavilion after a chaotic second-half comeback propelled the Irish to victory over the Boston College Eagles. The game was a crucial matchup for both teams, as the Irish looked to snap their five-game losing streak, post their second ACC win and overcome recent offensive struggles.
The starting lineup has seen some shuffling recently as the Irish try to get back on their feet. Sophomore guard Cole Certa, freshman forward Brady Koehler, graduate forward Carson Towt, junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry and freshman guard Jalen Haralson were the first five to take the floor against the Eagles.
Notre Dame’s first offensive possession ended with a Shrewsberry layup blocked by Boston College’s Jayden Hastings. On the other end, Fred Payne added on two points for BC. Notre Dame’s second possession came up empty and the Irish offense looked frazzled. In fact, Notre Dame had yet to see the ball go through the basket by the under-16 media timeout, at which point it was 0-7. Shrewsberry finally weaved through the BC defense to get to the rim for two points at the 14:45 mark before BC’s Luka Toews and Notre Dame’s sophomore forward Garrett Sundra traded threes on opposite ends of the floor.
For a while, there was no sign of improvement. Payne was a successful jumper for the Eagles while Chase Forte stripped the ball away from junior guard Logan Imes allowing Payne to put up another two points before the Irish had any chance to recover onto defense. In a rare first-half bright spot for the Irish, Imes returned the favor by stealing a pass from Forte, freshman forward Ryder Frost knocked down a 3-pointer and Boston College’s Boden Kapke turned it over back to Notre Dame.
Payne scored first after the timeout, making the deficit double digits for the first time of the evening. Notre Dame saw back-to-back possessions end in relatively unforced turnovers, which reflected the overarching offensive difficulties of this Irish squad. Towt nearly came up with a steal but knocked the ball out of bounds. BC converted on their extra possession with a dunk by Donald Hand Jr. Haralson responded on the other end with a quick four points though, cutting the BC lead to seven. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry could be seen telling his son to slow the offensive pace down after Boston College pushed a defensive rebound into a fast break layup. The advice paid off, as Braeden Shrewsberry drained a jumper on that possession. The teams traded layups until a timeout with four minutes left with the score at 20-27.
Braeden Shrewsberry knocked down both free throws, and suddenly the Irish were looking at just a two-possession game. That was short-lived though as Notre Dame posted several empty possessions in the final few minutes of the first half. Eventually, the Eagles expanded their lead with buckets from Kapke, Toews and Hand Jr., while the Notre Dame offense provided just a partial answer in the form of a jumper from Braeden Shrewsberry. Notre Dame had the last possession of the half, but came up empty. The teams headed into the locker rooms with the score 24-35. The Irish had shot a startling 2-for-13 from beyond the arc in the first half, and while Notre Dame and Boston College had both turned the ball over five times, Boston College converted that into eight points while Notre Dame had just three points off turnovers. 26 days removed from their last win and down double digits at halftime, it was going to take a major second half turn around for Notre Dame to dig itself out of this hole.
That turn around arrived, mainly on the back of Haralson, with key buckets from Braeden Shrewsberry as well as critical rebounds from Towt. But it did not come immediately and it certainly was not elegant.
Payne opened the scoring in the second half just like he did in the first for BC and Notre Dame’s first two offensive possessions looked sloppy. But hope came at the other end of the floor as the Irish defense managed to generate a few stops, which they were finally able to convert into some points.
“Our defense was fueling our offense,” coach Micah Shrewsberry said.
The Boston College offense went cold as the Notre Dame defense was able to heavily limit Payne’s opportunities. Braeden Shrewsberry knocked down a 3-pointer, the team defense forced a turnover and Koehler followed up with a three of his own. Purcell Pavilion got loud as the Irish cut the Boston College lead to just one possession and forced an Eagle timeout.
Following the timeout, rather than continuing to take the 3-pointers, Haralson worked against Hand Jr. and got to the rim finishing two difficult layups. Braeden Shrewsberry knocked down another mid-range jumper, and the score deficit was just one point. At the 10:40 mark, a deep Certa three gave the Irish their long-awaited lead, but BC’s Caleb Steger answered with one of his own to recover the one point Boston College lead. The Eagles’ second half shooting struggles resumed while Haralson continued to get his way at the rim. At 50-48, the Notre Dame defense generated a huge team stop, completely smothering a driving Hand Jr.
Haralson said the difference between the first half and the second were that the team had stops in the second. “When you get stops, the game starts becoming fun,” he said.
BC’s shooting percentage dropped from 46.7% in the first half to just 32.1% in the second, while ND’s rose from 32.3% in the first to 50.0% in the second.
The next break in Notre Dame’s favor came when a dead-ball technical after a common foul gave the Irish four free points. Mental mistakes for Boston College started to pile up, as Toews’ foul away from the ball allowed the Irish to open up a seven-point lead, their largest of the night. Hand Jr. cut it back to five, but Towt readily answered. Defense on both sides became sloppy and foul-ridden down the stretch, and the quality of play by either team could hardly be described as fantastic. But this Notre Dame team was not looking for a pretty win. It was looking for a gritty one. The teams seemed to exchange missed free throws for several possessions until finally, Notre Dame’s second-half hero Haralson found the rim for the first clean basket in what felt like several minutes. After a missed 3-pointer by Braeden Shrewsberry, BC’s Payne got to the basket, making it 61-59 Irish as the final two minutes started ticking away.
A three by Braeden Shrewsberry had the potential to be a nail in the coffin, but Boston College rarely goes down without a fight. The Eagles called a timeout with 25 seconds left on the clock to set up their last gasp. After a series of missed shots and offensive rebounds, Toews nailed a 3-pointer to make it 64-62 Irish with 10.3 seconds of play remaining. Braeden Shrewsberry was fouled and made his pair of free throws, but Payne sprinted to the other end to finish a layup, cutting the lead back to two. Then in a rather strange sequence of events, the Eagles attempted to call a timeout that they did not have, resulting in a technical foul being assessed and Certa making both free throws. The Irish then simply inbounded the ball to secure the 68-64 win.
Though it was not a spectacular performance by any means, the fact that the Irish had enough fight in them to overcome a double-digit deficit in the second half after a five-game losing streak should give them a confidence boost heading into Tuesday’s matchup against No. 14 Virginia.
