Notre Dame Basketball Recap: Irish Beat Big Green, 97-87
By Andrew Hall
The Notre Dame basketball team continues to search for answers after a lackluster victory over Dartmouth.
Notre Dame needed a career-high 37 points from Senior Bonzie Colson to defeat Dartmouth, 97-87. Despite the poor resume of the Big Green, they gave the Irish all they could handle for 40 minutes.
The Big Green played with the Irish for the majority of the first half. At 3:13 remaining in the first period of play, Notre Dame made a 13-6 run to close out the half. At halftime, the Fighting Irish led by 7 points, 46-39.
Dartmouth closed the gap to as little as 3-points. With 4:36 remaining in the contest, Big Green Forward Adrease Jackson slammed home a dunk to make the score 82-79. That is as close as Dartmouth would get.
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In the second half, Notre Dame slightly outpaced the Big Green by 3 points. This gave the Irish a 10-point margin of victory.
The victory failed to flush out the bad taste of the Indiana loss. With the Irish struggling against a poor team, more questions arise about the legitimacy of the Notre Dame basketball team.
The Fighting Irish continue to play like a top-heavy team. Notre Dame’s two best players scored 59 points combined. As stated above, Colson tallied 37 points as well as 11 rebounds. Point Guard Matt Farrell record 22 points and 6 assists.
Throughout the initial part of the season, Head Coach Mike Brey searched for a third scorer. Tonight, two players contributed for the Irish. Senior Center Martinas Geben nearly notched a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Junior Guard Rex Pflueger also chipped in 13 points.
The struggles of the bench continued on Tuesday night. The four players who subbed into the game only tallied a dismal 3 points. A small contribution from the bench will beat Dartmouth and low-level ACC teams but not top-level ACC programs.
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Notre Dame continues their search for answers against Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday.