Farrell's Dagger Gives Notre Dame 76-71 Win
Notre Dame’s (17-12, 7-9) 76-71 win at Wake Forest (11-18, 4-13) on Saturday was a game of runs, and Matt Farrell made sure the Irish had the last one.
Farrell knocked in an off-balance three-pointer from the wing with 5.9 seconds left in the game to break a 71-71 tie. The New Jersey native finished the night with 21 points, four three-pointers and six assists.
“I’m proud of our group," said Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. "It’s a great win for us. I thought our defense the last six minutes kicked in. Wake Forest is a really gifted offensive team and it was hard for us to guard them. We tried a little bit of everything.
“We had some guys make some really big shots. Matt Farrell is a senior and we want him taking that. He banged it down.”
The Irish also held Wake Forest without a field goal for the final 8:08 of the game after Chaundee Brown hit a trey to give the Demon Deacons a 69-60 lead. Notre Dame used a crucial 11-0 run to take the lead at 71-69 before Keyshawn Woods hit two free throws for Wake Forest to tie the game at 71.
Martinas Geben was also a monster for Notre Dame as the senior finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds on the night. Geben stole an inbounds pass after Farrell’s three and hit two foul shots to put the game on ice with three seconds left in the game.
"He’s been playing well," Brey said of Geben. "They didn’t double him and played him with one guy. He has really developed into a low-post scorer for us. He’s very confident and he’s got good footwork.
“I didn’t know we would have this when Bonzie left. When Bonzie was there, he was our low-post guy and Martinas cleaned up the backboard. We’ve been able to establish him in the low-post and it has kept us alive.”
TJ Gibbs opened the second half with two three-pointers to pull the Irish with 44-42. The sophomore guard then knocked in three free throws to give Notre Dame a 45-44 lead with just over 18 minutes to play.
Gibbs finished with 20 points, and it was the ninth time this season he reached the 20-point mark in a game.
Wake Forest hit a three-pointer to give the home squad a 49-47 lead, but Geben came back with two dunks to tie the game before another three from Mitchell Wilbekin.
Wilbekin hit his third three-ball of the game as part of a quick 7-0 run to give Wake Forest a 59-51 lead with just under 13 minutes to play.
Wake Forest was led by 14 points, which included going 4-for-6 from downtown.
Behind Geben's 14 rebounds, the Irish held off the Demon Deacons on the boards 36-31 and also held an advantage of 28-20 of points scored in the paint.
Wake Forest started the game on a 5-0 run, which included two free throws from senior Britton Anderson, who hadn’t scored in his career for the Demon Deacons. The Irish started the game 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-3 from three-point range.
Gibbs got things going for the Irish with a three-pointer before Farrell got hot. The senior point guard scored seven points in a row to tie the game at 12, which including a driving runner, two free throws and a three-pointer.
Farrell knocked in three free throws, but the Irish would go over three minutes without a field goal. Geben got a putback dunk to end the drought and to cut the Demon Deacon lead to 21-19 at the under eight timeout.
Geben got two dunks to pull the Irish within 30-28 at the final media timeout of the first half. Geben scored 10 of his first-half points in just under six minutes of game time.
The Notre Dame center ended the first half with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Farrell had 10 points and two assists at the break.
Wake Forest hit six of seven shots to end the first half as Mitchell Wilkbekin nailed a trey to give the Demon Deacons a 41-36 lead at the half.
Notre Dame shot 42 percent from the field but hit just 2-of-10 shots from beyond the arc. The Wake Forest bench outscored the Irish 28-4, the Notre Dame held an 18-17 edge on the glass.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Martinas Geben. 22 points and 14 rebounds filled the stat sheet, but it was his timely buckets and the will to keep the Irish in game.
STAT OF THE GAME: Notre Dame went 18-for-20 from the free throw line, while Wake Forest was 10-for-15. The ability to get points from the line proved to be the different late in the game.
WHAT’S NEXT: Pittsburgh will come to Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. tip for Senior Night. Bonzie Colson will be in the starting lineup.
