Colson's Big Night Gets Irish By Big Green 97-87
It was the Bonzie Colson show on Tuesday night. The All-American scored 37 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as Notre Dame (9-3) beat a pesky Dartmouth (3-6) team 97-87 at Purcell Pavilion.
“It’s an amazing performance," Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey stated. "The shots he made. The steals he came up with – he’s just one of those guys that makes sure his team doesn’t lose. He’ll kill himself making sure his team doesn’t lose."
Colson scored on dunks, layups, fadeaways, jumpers and from downtown as he went 15-of-21 from the field.
"It was a bounce-back game, so we had to bring everything we had," stated Colson. "We wanted to create a home identity by playing hard and strong. We’re happy we pulled away and got the win.
“I got a lot of shots up yesterday and getting back into rhythm. That helped me with my flow and that helped me with my team. I wasn’t overthinking anything and just playing my game."
Chris Jackson slammed it in for Dartmouth to cut the lead to three, but Colson answered with a three-ball from the top of the key and then got a breakaway dunk to push the lead to 87-79 with 3:35 left in the game.
“Great things take time," laughed Colson when asked about his three-point shot. "It’s something you can’t overthink. My teammates always tell me to shoot the ball. I shot it today and thankfully it went it in."
Martinas Geben topped the night off with a two-handed slam off a Matt Farell miss to give the Irish a 10-point lead with just over a minute remaining. Geben finished the game with 13 points and nine rebounds.
Dartmouth stayed in the game as the Big Green went 15-of-32 from three-point range led by Miles Wright, who finished with 15 points and five threes.
The 15 three-pointers were the most hit against Brey since he has been at Notre Dame. Texas and Leigh had hit 14 against Notre Dame under Brey.
"Usually when a team hits 15 threes on you, you lose," stated Brey. They were firing. Some were good ones, some were flat out bombs. I had a little flashback to the Leigh game about 10 years ago when they made 14 and the only way we were going to win was to outscore them.
"We scored enough to escape. Bonzie and Matt Farrell were fabulous. They made sure we didn’t lose."
Aaryn Ray added 14 points and four three-pointers for Dartmouth.
Notre Dame held the Big Green to just 3-of-11 shooting to start the second half while going 5-of-8 from the field to open a 57-46 advantage with 14:58 to play.
The Irish went 6-for-6 at one point in the second half as Colson and Pflueger got dunks during the stretch, and TJ Gibbs knocked home a three-pointer to put the Irish up 66-50.
Pflueger finished his night with 13 points and six rebounds.
Geben continued the hot shooting as the senior spun baseline and finished with a two-handed slam. Matt Farrell nailed a three-ball, and Colson added another following a deep three from Brendan Barry to push the lead to 77-63 with just under nine minutes to play.
Dartmouth cut the lead to seven on a Chris Knight jumper from the elbow and Wright hit a trey to make the score 77-70 with 7:13 left in the game.
Farrell ended the 9-0 run by Dartmouth with his fourth three-pointer of the game to push the lead back to double figures. The senior point guard ended his night with 22 points and six assists.
The Irish dominated the boards holding a 35-25 advantage. Notre Dame also crushed the Big Green in inside as they outscored Dartmouth 38-24 in the paint and held a 14-4 advantage in second chance points.
One concern is Dartmouth’s bench outscored Notre Dame 32-3.
“I was hoping the way the bench played in Indianapolis that I could take a step with them, but that wasn’t the case," stated Brey. "We have to keep coming back and working with them. Our starters had to win the game for us tonight."
Notre Dame scored on its first possession of the game as Farrell knocked in a three-point from the right side. Geben hit three-of-four from the line, and Colson hit an easy layup to give the Irish an 8-5 advantage with 15:53 remaining in the first half.
Colson ended the half with 16 points, and seven rebounds and Farrell chipped in 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Sistare nailed a three for the Big Green to cut the Irish lead to 14-11 and the Irish would go cold. Notre Dame didn’t score for over 2:55 and had three turnovers during the stretch.
Pflueger ended the mini-drought with a layup to tie the game at 14 with just over 11 minutes left in the opening half.
Harvey got a quick steal off an outlet and completed a three-point play to take the lead back for the Irish. Dartmouth went 3:07 without a field goal until Barry knocked in a deep three to pull the Big Green within 22-21.
Sistare hit his second three of the game to tie the game at 26 with just over five minutes to play, and that jumpstarted the Irish. Gibbs knocked in two foul shots, and Farrell hit a trey to give the Irish a mini 5-0 run.
Colson would then hit back-to-back three balls, and Pflueger extended the lead by completing a three-point play off a second chance bucket to give the Irish a much-needed 42-33 cushion with 1:32 to play in the half.
Notre Dame’s 11-0 run ended on back-to-back treys from Rai, but the Irish led 46-39 at the half.
Rai led Dartmouth with 11 points and three treys in the first 20 minutes. Sistare ended the half with six points.
The Big Green hit 8-of-15 three-point shots to stay in the game, while Notre Dame hit 4-of-11 from three-point range. The Irish were solid on the boards holding an 18-11 advantage.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Bonzie Colson. Not much needs to be said. The turning point was Colson's 5-0 run in the second half when Dartmouth trimmed the lead to three.
STAT OF THE GAME: While it was a win for the Irish, Dartmouth outscoring the Notre Dame 32-3 in bench points isn't good.
WHAT’S NEXT: Notre Dame will host Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday night. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.
