No. 10 Notre Dame Holds Off Boston College Rally For 71-63 Win

With five minutes left in the first half, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were up 25 and it was a very un-ACC like game. But after a running half-court three from

cut the lead to 16 at the break, it quickly found it’s place as a typical ACC contest.

The Irish (21-3, 9-2 ACC) had to hold off a furious second half comeback, keyed by four consecutive three-pointers by Olivier Hanlan that cut the Notre Dame lead to 67-61 with 1:47 left. Steve Vasturia hit another late three from the corner, similar to the one against Duke, to help the Irish edge away from the Eagles en route to the 71-63 win.

Vasturia and Grant both dropped 17 apiece, while Zach Auguste added 16 in the Irish effort. Point guard Demetrius Jackson struggled from the field, but led the Irish with 10 rebounds to help stave off the Boston College comeback attempt.

Coach Mike Brey felt like things seemed a bit too easy early, and he was right.

‘It got to 25 so fast, you worry about concentration and focus a little bit,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey�said. ”Then the guy throws in a half-court shot at halftime and I’m thinking … but I never expect a league game to be easy.”

The Eagles (9-12, 1-8) got an amazing performance from Hanlan, who scored 28 points, hitting 6-of-9 from three-point range. Even when the Irish knew he was going to shoot, they couldn’t stop him �late.

Even with the terrible shooting effort in the second half, the first half was good enough to lead them to 50 percent from the field. However, the 57.9 percent from the free-throw line was disappointing, as Zach Auguste missed the front-end of a few one-and-one’s that may have helped put the game away.

After the Irish jumped out to a 34-9 lead, it looked as if they would put the game away early. Hanlan felt the Eagles were way too sloppy on the defensive end.

"”They had so many easy looks in the first half and Notre Dame, being the team they are, you can’t get caught doing that against a team like that,” he said."

The Irish are off to their best start since 1978-79, when they started 22-3.

Notre Dame travels to Cameron Indoor to take on Duke on Saturday.