The Notre Dame Fighting Irish fell in heartbreaking fashion this past Tuesday to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 84-85. The Irish have now lost two straight, moving them to 4-2 on the year.
Photo by The Irish Tribune
It was a rough start to the game for the Irish, as Markus Burton suffered a knee injury and left the game at the 16:36 mark in the first half. Burton was in visible pain, and Burton’s father was called to come down to the locker room. Burton eventually returned to the bench in sweats, and elevated his right leg with ice, as we await the results of an MRI. Coach Shrewsberry offered some words on Burton's condition
“I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re just going to put this in God’s hands, and let him handle it. Whatever happens next, we’ll handle.”
Braden Shrewsberry had the hot hand early, and led the Irish to a 14-12 lead with 11:55 remaining in the first half. The sophomore had nine points in this span, and was 2-4 from behind the arch.
The Irish had taken a 22-14 lead with 7:53 remaining in the first half. Shrewsberry remained hot, and Allocco had a nice take away that led to an easy fast break.
Notre Dame led 35-34 at the half. Shrewsberry now had twelve points and Allocco had eight points and seven rebounds. Shrewsberry and Allocco have stepped up big time with the absence of Burton.
The Irish took a 62-56 lead with seven minutes remaining after Logan Imes and Burke Chebuhar knock down back to back threes. Imes took a big role with the absence of Burton, and was running the offense with a lot of confidence.
Rutgers went on a 9-0 run to take the lead 65-62 with 3:25 remaining. Matt Allocco tied it up at 69 with a three after scoring nine points in 30 seconds for the Irish.
Notre Dame and Rutgers would head to overtime all tied up at 69. The Irish got out to an early lead, but had multiple turnovers that Rutgers was able to take advantage of and allowed them to take a 79-73 lead with 57 seconds left.
Notre Dame had to start fouling, and Allocco hit multiple threes to put the Irish within three points, and eventually Allocco tied up the game with 11 seconds left in the extra frame.
Cole Certa lost track of the score, and committed a foul on Dylan Harper to send Rutgers to the line. Shrewsberry would offer some encouragement after a costly mistake.
“I lose no faith in Cole Certa. He’s going to play tomorrow. I guarantee he’ll make a shot tomorrow.”
Allocco got a good look at the buzzer, but it rimmed out and the Irish would go on to lose 84-85. Notre Dame battled and fell just short to a solid Rutgers team. They will take on the talented Houston Cougars at 12:30 AM EST in their second game of the Players Era Festival this Thursday on TBS.
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