Farrell's Career-Performance Fuels 84-67 Irish Win Over Boston College
Notre Dame (16-11, 6-8) point guard Matt Farrell started hot from the three-point line and never cooled off scoring a career-high 37 points leading the Irish to an 84-67 win over Boston College (16-11, 6-8).
The senior tied the Notre Dame record for three-pointers in a game hitting 10 triples including his first nine attempts.
Here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's half-by-half recap of the Irish win and Farrell's historic performance. The full box score can be FOUND HERE.
FIRST HALF
Notre Dame got the start it wanted on the road hitting four of its first five attempts from the field.
A jump hook by big man Martinas Geben got the scoring going with Boston College answering on the other end with a bucket from forward Nik Popovic.
Guards Rex Pflueger and TJ Gibbs connected on three-pointers to give the Irish a quick 8-2 lead before a three-pointer from Boston College guard Jerome Robinson stopped the run.
Senior point guard Matt Farrell joined the three-point barrage for the Irish giving his team an 11-5 lead at the under-16 media timeout (15:35).
After the break, the Farrell show began. The senior would go on to score 11 points over the span of almost three minutes to give the Irish a 24-7 lead at the next media timeout.
Farrell hit three three-pointers during the stretch to push his point total to 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting including 4-of-4 behind the arc. Boston College went 1-of-6 during that same stretch.
The three-point barrage for Farrell didn’t stop there as he hit two more during the next almost four minutes to push his point total to 20 at the under-8 media timeout. Boston College finally found some offense with Robinson getting five points and guard Ky Bowman getting three of his own.
Notre Dame held a 34-17 lead with just over seven minutes to play. The Irish extended their lead to 36-19 before Farrell connected on his seventh three-pointer of the half to make it a 20-point advantage (39-19). His seventh three-pointer passed a career-high for the senior.
Boston College then responded with an 8-0 run behind five points from Robinson and three via Bowman to cut the Irish lead to 39-27 and forcing a timeout from Mike Brey.
The Irish followed with a 5-0 run which included yes another three-pointer from Farrell to give Notre Dame a 44-27 lead with just over three minutes to play.
Over those final few minutes, a three-pointer from Robinson and basket via Gibbs closed out the overall scoring giving the Irish a 46-30 lead heading into the break.
Farrell’s 26 points led all scorers behind his eight three-pointers (8-of-8). Geben added six points while Gibbs added five to round out the top three scorers for the Irish. Notre Dame shot 18-of-27 (66.7 percent) overall 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) behind the arc.
Boston College finished the half 12-of-31 (38.7 percent) from the field including 5-of-13 (38.5 percent) from three-point range. Robinson lead all Eagles scorers with 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
SECOND HALF
Notre Dame didn’t slow down at the beginning of the final 20 minutes hitting its first three baskets with one two-point field goal each from Geben and Gibbs along with a three-pointer by Gibbs. Farrell assisted on two of the baskets.
The quick 7-0 run to start the half pushed the Irish lead up to 53-30 with 18:35 left and the team’s field goal total to 70 percent (21-of-30). Boston College scored the next four points to cut the Irish lead to 56-34 at the under-16 timeout.
A quick 4-0 capped off by a steal and breakaway dunk from Geben pushed Notre Dame’s lead to 24 points (61-37) with 14:07 left. But, Boston College found a rhythm offensively and ripped off a quick 10-0 run over the next two minutes to cut the lead to 61-47 at the under-12 timeout.
Popovic scored five points during the run while Robinson and Bowman each got their own baskets.
After starting 4-of-4 in the second half, the Irish went 2-of-8 over a stretch of four minutes or so.
Boston College kept slowly chipping away at the Irish lead and eventually cut it to nine points (68-59) after layup from Robinson with just under six minutes remaining.
Notre Dame quickly answered with a three-pointer from sophomore guard Nik Djogo to push the Irish lead back to double-digits (71-59). The Eagles again would cut the lead down to nine points (73-64) after a three-pointer from Robinson, who had 29 points at the time of the basket.
Farrell increased his point total to 32 points with a layup after driving to the basket to give the Irish a 75-64 lead at the under-4 timeout.
A free throw from Bowman made it a 10-point Irish lead with the Boston College fan base roaring trying to get their team a little push down the final stretch.
But after finally missing two three-point attempts, Farrell drilled his 10th three-pointer of the game to tie the Notre Dame record for triples in a game and helped take the air out of the Conte Forum with the Irish up 78-65 with over three minutes to play.
The Irish would go on to score sox of the next eight points to claim an 84-67 win over Boston College giving the team its first road win in six attempts.
Farrell finished with a career-high and game-high 37 points on 12-of-17 shooting including 10-of-12 behind the arc. The senior also added four rebounds and seven assists in the win.
Gibbs added 15 points to the team’s total while Geben notched 12 points and five rebounds. Djogo had nine points to help ease the loss of Pflueger, who went down in the second half when he took a hard fall after getting fouled.
Notre Dame shot 31-of-49 (63.3 percent) from the field including 14-of-23 behind the arc.
Boston College got 29 points from Robinson, but it wasn’t enough to cool off the hot Irish. Popovic added 15 points and 11 rebounds while Bowman scored 13 points.
The Eagles shot 25-of-56 overall (44.6 percent) while hitting just 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) on their three-point attempts.
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