The Notre Dame Men’s Basketball team got the season started right with a 89-67 win over Long Island inside Purcell Pavilion on Monday night. The Sharks were a unanimous preseason pick to win the NEC, so this
isn’t a typical “victory over a small school to start the season” kind of a win.
Speaking of great starts… it’s exactly how Notre Dame performed after the tipoff. The Irish built a nice lead in the first 8 minutes of the game, and held steady (and then some) throughout the game. The Irish shot 49% from the floor, but they also shot 51% from behind the three point line (14-27).
Markus Burton had a nice scoring game with 24 points, but the Irish player stat that really stood out was newcomer Carson Towt and his 19 rebounds over 29 minutes of play. Notre Dame’s bench production was something we don’t normally see from the Irish as Cole Certa scored a career high 22 points, and freshman Ryder Frost added another 15. Jalen Haralson, a 5-Star freshman, started the game for Notre Dame and added 4 points and 3 rebounds.
Overall, Notre Dame had 9 players play 12 minutes or more, which is something that during recent years was hard to come by — even in blowout wins.
Up next for the Irish is another home game on Friday night against Detroit Mercy.
