Bonzie Colson scored 18 points and Matt Farrell added 16 as fifth seed Notre Dame survived a late push by 12th seed Princeton to record a 60-58 victory. The Tigers Devin Cannady had a chance to win the game for the Ivy League champions, but his three-pointer with three seconds to play came up short to allow the Fighting Irish to escape the upset.

Slow start for Princeton as Notre Dame builds halftime lead

It was a poor start for the Ivy League champions as they misfired on five of their first six shots, the only basket a three-pointer by Spencer Weisz. Weisz, the Ivy League Player of the Year, led the Tigers with 15 points.

Fortunately for Princeton, Notre Dame wasn't much better. The Irish built a 9-3 lead only to see the Tigers rally and take their first and only lead of the game on a three-point play by Amir Bell to put Princeton ahead 17-15.

The key moments of the game came next as Notre Dame went on a 10-0 run spanning almost five minutes to take a 25-17 lead. Fending off late challenges by Princeton, the Irish took a 36-30 lead heading into halftime.

Colson paced the Notre Dame offense/Photo: James P. McCoy/The Buffalo News
Colson paced the Notre Dame offense/Photo: James P. McCoy/The Buffalo News

Notre Dame nearly wastes double digit lead, hangs on for win

After taking as much as an 11-point lead in the second half, Princeton rallied to cut the lead to 59-58 with 19 seconds to play after Pete Miller scored four straight points on a layup and a tip-in. Following the tip-in, Farrell was fouled and he missed the front end of a one-and-one, setting up Cannady's final chance. Steve Vasturia grabbed the rebound with 1.4 seconds to play and made one of two free throws.

The Princeton bench looks on dejectedly after Cannady's miss/Photo: Elsa/Getty Images
The Princeton bench looks on dejectedly after Cannady's miss/Photo: Elsa/Getty Images

Following the game, Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey was relieved to get through this ultra-close opening round game: "We gave everybody a show, right?", Brey said. "We escaped. We've been in a lot of games like that where game situations need a big defensive stop. We've been there. I'm proud we're still alive."

Princeton coach Mitch Henderson was proud of his squad after nearly pulling off the upset: “I’m so proud of the group", the fifth-year head man said. “You know how this is. It’s hard to see it end, but we gave ourselves opportunities against a good Notre Dame team.

“All season they’ve taken punches and responded, and I thought our defense to under 40 percent in the second field in the field, which is the only way you get back into these games. And we had multiple looks to take that game, and it would have been great.”

VAVEL Logo
About the author
John Lupo
I am a writer and photographer. I have two Instagrams: @lupojohn1 is my personal account while @dslr_transit_photos is my photography account as I do transit photography in my hometown of New York City.