Notre Dame Back On Track With 71-53 Win
It was a whacky Sunday inside Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame (7-1) struggled to put away St. Francis (2-6) in a 71-53 win.
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey was ejected in the second half after forward Bonzie Colson was tossed from the game due to a flagrant two. Brey was not pleased and threw punches in the air before getting shown back to the locker room.
"That was an interesting afternoon in Purcell Pavilion,” said Brey. That’s a first for me. I wish that I was maybe a little calmer, but in hindsight, I certainly can’t have my guy sitting in the locker room all by himself.
“Bonzie and I were watching the game on his phone. That’s new territory for me. That was very unusual.”
Notre Dame point guard Matt Farrell and St. Francis forward Darelle Porter also received technical a few minutes after Brey and Colson left the game.
"Coach Brey and I were watching the game on my phone," said Colson. "I didn’t know he was ejected and the next thing I know he is watching the game with me.
“I have to be better and smarter. I have to understand guys are going to come after you and I have to be smarter about it.”
Colson finished his night early with 13 points and nine boards.
St.Francis responded with a 6-0 run to trim the Irish lead to 62-49 with just over five minutes to play. Geben ended the run with a monster dunk following the ejections and gave life to the crowd inside Purcell Pavilion.
Geben ended his night with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
"It’s very gratifying," Geben said of his performance. " I’m extremely grateful. All the hard work, prayers and everything is paying off. My teammates and coaches are trusting me.
“It’s not about my own performance. It’s about the team. If I can play well and the team wins, then I’ll be happy.”
It was an offensive struggle for both teams as Notre Dame shot 41 percent and St. Francis was just 32 percent from the field. The Irish shot just 3-of-14 from three-point range, but the Terriers didn’t shoot much better from downtown as they hit just 6-of-23.
"We weren’t very good offensively, but I thought we defended and guarded to win an ugly game,"
explained Brey. "I’m thrilled the last five minutes, Rob Balanis and your veteran team figure out how to finish it without any problem."
The Irish led for 35:11 of the game, but they could never totally get a monster lead to break the Terriers. Notre Dame won the battle in the paint with a 43-37 advantage in rebounds and outscored St. Francis 36-24 in the paint.
Jalen Jordan, Rasheem Dunn, and Porter led the Terriers with 10 points each.
TJ Gibbs and DJ Harvey scored 10 points for the Irish, while Farrell added 12 points and four assists.
St. Francis started the second half on an 11-1 run to close the gap to 48-36 at the first media timeout as Note Dame was held without a field goal for 6:06 after Martinas Geben knocked in a couple of free throws.
TJ Gibbs finally hit a field goal for Notre Dame as the sophomore guard nailed a three-pointer from the corner to give the Irish a 51-36 lead.
Notre Dame picked up the defense and forced four turnovers over a six-minute span, but also held the Terriers to just 1-of-9 from the field.
The Irish got off to somewhat of a slow start as they had three turnovers and Pflueger missed two free throws in the opening four minutes of the game. The Irish held an 8-7 lead with 15:16 left in the opening half with four points from Geben.
St. Francis kept things interesting heading into the second media timeout, as the Irish held just a 16-14 lead. Milija Cosic scored six quick points, and Darelle Porter added four for the Terriers.
Cosic led the Terriers with six points and three rebounds in the first half.
A Dunn bucket brought the score to tie at 16, but Harvey nailed a three-pointer from the corner on the next possession for the Irish. Gibbs answered a St. Francis trey with a three of his own to push the lead to 24-19.
Notre Dame went on a quick 7-0 run to push the lead to 28-19 before Colson and Farrell would hit a combined four free throws for a 32-22 lead with 3:40 left in the half.
The run would continue to 21-3 over 6:59 as the Irish held the Terriers without a point for over four minutes.
Geben and Colson both had 10 points and five boards at the half, while Farrell, Harvey and Pflueger chipped in six points each.
WHAT’S NEXT: Notre Dame will host Ball State on Tuesday night at Purcell Pavilion. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. ET.