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Notre Dame survives scare, pulls away from A&M-CC with three-point barrage

Notre Dame welcomed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi into Purcell Pavilion Wednesday afternoon for a rare weekday matinee game.

And following a sluggish and troublesome start, Notre Dame put together a lengthy scoring run to finish the first half, and steady three-point shooting in the second half, for an 83-73 comeback win over the Islanders in a sloppy and chippy game that remained in doubt until the final five minutes.

The Irish struggled mightily out of the gate, making only three of their first 11 shots and two of their first nine three-pointers while falling behind 17-8.

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball head coach Mike Brey
Notre Dame and Mike Brey won their second straight game on Wednesday. (Matt Cashore/USA TODAY Sports)

But following a lengthy timeout 11 minutes into the game for the officials to sort through the single technical fouls they handed out to both teams after an on-court scuffle, Notre Dame became more inspired during an 18-5 scoring run late in the first half that helped turned a 24-19 Irish deficit into a 37-29 lead.

That first-half scoring run proved critical because the pesky Islanders refused to go away. Through the first 15 minutes of the second half, Notre Dame’s lead typically hovered between only two and five points.

The Irish actually trailed 58-57 with 11:22 remaining in the game, but leaned on some finally consistent three-point shooting throughout the second half to methodically pull away.

“They are good,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said of his worthy opponent. “They’re hard to guard and they guard the heck out of you. I have to give the guys credit to find a way to escape. I’m thrilled that we found a way to get out of here.”

Following the 2-of-9 three-point shooting start, Notre Dame connected on 14-of-20 threes the rest of the game, including 8-of-10 in in the second half. Going 13-of-14 from the foul line also helped the Irish protect their slim lead and eventually pull away.

Senior guard Dane Goodwin continued his scoring surge with a season-high 21 points during a balanced game in which five Notre Dame players scored in double figures.

Goodwin — who has led all scorers the last two games — has now tallied double-digit points in all 11 games this season, the longest such streak of his career.

Freshman guard Blake Wesley had 15 points.

Graduate student Paul Atkinson Jr., and senior Cormac Ryan each added 14 points and senior guard Prentiss Hubb tallied 11.

Ryan (4-of-5) and Hubb (3-of-5) combined to go 7-of-10 on three-pointers.

The Irish were sloppy with the ball, recording 14 turnovers, which the Islanders converted into 20 points to help keep them in the game.

As an 18-point favorite, the win for Notre Dame over the Islanders (10-3) was expected, but Brey accurately warned his players before the game that nothing would be easy in this one.

Entering the game at 10-2, the Islanders — out of the Southland Conference — came to town winners in nine of their previous 10 games.

It’s only the second time this season the Irish have won back-to-back games. And while neither the 85-52 defeat of Western Michigan on Monday nor Wednesday’s 10-point win rate as high-profile, perhaps Notre Dame can use this mini winning streak for some momentum as ACC play hits full gear next week.

Up next: Notre Dame (6-5, 0-1 ACC) travels to Pittsburgh (5-7, 0-1) on Dec. 28, for a conference matchup against a Panthers team that has won two straight games and three of its last four.

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