We can’t have nice things. There was some momentum moving in favor of Notre Dame and its basketball hopes this season, but against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastadons, they really looked like they miss Markus
Burton more than ever. The Irish trailed at halftime, could never get over the hump, and eventually fell to the Mastadons, 72-69.
Irish Fall To Purdue Fort Wayne, 72-69
Jalen Haralson finished with a season-high 21 points.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Fighting Irish (9-4) fell 72-69 to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (8-6) in their final non-conference game of the season. It marked their first defeat inside Purcell Pavilion this season.
The Irish were led by Jalen Haralson, who finished with season highs in points (21) & rebounds (9), plus 4 assists. The freshman finished shooting 6-13 from the floor and 9-11 from the charity stripe. It marked his third game with 20+ points.
He was followed by Braeden Shrewsberry, who finished with 13 points, three rebounds, and an assist.
Logan Imes recorded a career-high 12 points on 5-10 shooting from the floor, recording four rebounds and a career-best four steals.
Both teams shot identically from the floor as the Irish finished shooting 24-60 and the Mastodons finished shooting 24-59. With both teams shooting 40% from the floor, the Mastodons were able to shoot 11-35 from three in comparison to Notre Dame’s 7-27 from three.
The Irish outrebounded the Mastodons 43-28.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Mastodons had the early momentum, opening up on 4-6 shooting while the Irish were struggling offensively with a 3-10 start from the floor. Purdue Fort Wayne led 10-6 heading into the first media timeout.
The Mastodon offensive flurry continued, extending their run to 15-2 over a 4:30 span until Braeden Shrewsberry stopped the bleeding with his first three of the day to make 15-9 at 13:40.
Both teams traded baskets to make it 17-11 before each team went into an almost three-minute scoring drought. Another Shrewsberry three would bring some life back to the offense to make it 17-14, but Fort Wayne responded with an and-one for the three-point play to spark a 10-2 run.
A pair of Haralson free throws brought the Irish within single digits to make it a 27-18 ballgame with 2:51 left in the half.
The final three minutes of the half were simple for the Irish: stops and buckets.
The Irish followed with a big defensive stop as they forced a shot clock violation and followed with a Towt finish at the rim.
Continuing to build some momentum, the Irish got another stop and followed by a layup from Haralson. Defensively, Haralson then had a monster block at the rim, resulting in a fast-break layup from Imes to close out the first on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to just three at 27-24 at halftime.
Despite having their lowest scoring half of the season, the Irish came out swinging to start the half. A layup and a three from Imes combined with a layup from Haralson gave the Irish their first lead since the beginning of the game at 17:26 when the Irish led 4-2. With the Irish in front 31-30, both teams traded baskets up to the first media timeout as it was still a one-possession game with Fort Wayne in the lead at 36-34.
It was back and forth between the Irish and Mastodons, with neither team really able to pull away. Back-to-back threes from the Irish had Purcell on their feet as threes from Imes and Koehler made it a tied ballgame at 41-all.
It was a game of runs as the Notre Dame 6-0 run was followed by a Fort Wayne 5-0 run to make it 46-41 at 11:57. Four straight points from Shrewsberry brought the Irish within one as the two squads continued to swap buckets.
A Sundra layup at 6:19 brought the Irish within three at 54-51. He was followed by a pair of Certa free throws to make it a point game with just under five minutes left.
Both teams would go into a two-minute scoring drought, but it remained a one-possession game with 1:39 left as the Irish trailed 56-55.
A 6-0 Fort Wayne run surged the Mastodons to a 62-55 lead with just 45 seconds left. A Certa three would bring the Irish within four as it then turned into a fouling game in hopes of regaining possession.
Between both teams, 17 free throws were shot in the final 37 seconds of play, but the Irish would ultimately come up just short as they fell 72-69 to Fort Wayne.
UP NEXT
The Irish open up conference play in California next week as they take on Stanford on December 30 and Cal on January 2.
