Notre Dame Cruises Past Pittsburgh 73-56 On Senior Night
Notre Dame had no troubles Wednesday night taking down Pittsburgh 73-56 to honor its seniors with potentially their final home win.
The Irish steadily built a lead throughout the first half and never looked back securing a victory on Senior Night and the first game back for star senior Bonzie Colson, who missed almost two months with an injury.
Here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's half-by-half recap of the Irish win.
FIRST HALF
With Colson returning to the lineup for the first time in two months, of course much of the attention was on the senior. He didn’t disappoint.
In his first 6:45 of action, it was the same Colson that Irish fans saw before the injury. Colson put up eight points and five rebounds including multiple offensive boards to fuel the Irish through the first media timeout (13:15) with Notre Dame up 12-11.
Colson provided a big spark in his return on what was an emotional night for the Irish program.
While Colson headed to the bench for a break, fellow senior Austin Torres helped provide energy off the bench scoring two points over the next two-plus minutes to keep the Irish up 16-13 going into the under-12 timeout (10:50).
Notre Dame started to pull away after the break extending its 2-0 run to 13-0 with 7:00 left to go up 27-13. TJ Gibbs and Matt Farrell knocked down a combined three three-pointers to spark the run to force a Pittsburgh timeout.
The Irish eventually made it to 16-0 before a free throw from Pittsburgh guard Shamiel Stevenson ended it making 30-14 Notre Dame with 5:48. The 16-point lead (34-18) for the Irish remained the same over the next two-plus minutes going into the under-4 timeout (3:19).
That lead continued to remain the same throughout the rest of the half with the Irish taking a 39-23 lead into the locker room.
Gibbs had nine points to lead the Irish while Colson had eight points and six rebounds in 12 minutes of action. Senior big man Martinas Geben notched six points and six rebounds in the opening 20 minutes with Farrell and John Mooney each adding five points respectively.
Notre Dame finished the half 15-of-32 from the field while Pittsburgh was 10-of-31. The Irish won the first half rebounding battle 25-13 including 15-8 on the offensive glass.
SECOND HALF
The Irish started the second half on a quick 6-0 run for their largest lead at 45-23 with 18:42 remaining.
Pittsburgh stormed back with a 10-2 run to close the gap to 47-33 with 15:32 left behind four points from forward Terrell Brown and three each from guards Parker Stewart and Jared Wilson-Frame. The Irish held a 49-33 advantage at the first timeout of the half (15:10).
Notre Dame responded with a 7-0 run getting two buckets from Farrell and a three-pointer via Gibbs to push the Irish lead back to 54-33. Wilson-Frame converted an and-one opportunity to make it 54-36 Notre Dame with 11:08 remaining.
The Panthers extend its 3-0 run to a 10-2 stretch to again close the gap to 55-43 with Wilson-Frame knocking a triple in the process. The Irish led 58-43 with 7:05 left after a triple from Farrell got the group back on track.
But, the Irish continued to keep the Panthers at bay with a quick 6-0 run with four points from Mooney and another bucket via Farrell to make it 61-43 with 6:11 left. Pittsburgh rallied a bit heading into the under-4 timeout cut the Irish lead to 64-48 (3:41).
There was no drama during the final few minutes of game action with the Irish securing a 73-56 win over Pittsburgh on Senior Night.
Farrell and Gibbs each finished with 14 points to lead the Irish also grabbing two rebounds and three assists each. Colson scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds in his 21 minutes of action.
Geben was one point shy of a double-double to end his home career going for nine points and 13 rebounds. Fellow senior big man Austin Torres notched six points. Mooney turned in a solid performance with eight points and four rebounds.
Overall, Notre Dame shot 28-of-67 (41.8 percent) from the field including 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) behind the arc. The Irish also dominated the glass 51-35 including 19-11 on the offensive glass.
Pittsburgh finished 22-of-66 (33.3 percent) from the floor while hitting just 7-of-30 on its three-point attempts. Wilson-Frame finished as the team’s leading scorer with 20 points while Brown and Stevenson notched 10 apiece.
The win gave Mike Brey win No. 400 in his career at Notre Dame while the senior class hit the century mark with their 100th win in an Irish uniform.
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