Irish lose 94-90 to Boston College

This continues to feel terrible

Feb 27, 2021; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Trey Wertz (2) drives to the basket against Boston College Eagles forward Kamari Williams (14) during the first half at Conte Forum. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford | Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

As the 2020-2021 Men’s Basketball regular season draws to a close, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish look to finish what’s left of the season on a high note. How did the Fighting Irish fare against the Boston College Eagles? Let’s have a look!

First Half

The Eagles were the first to get points on the board with a three-point shot by Sam Holtze (senior walk-on), but the Irish responded with a three-point jumper of their own by Nikola Djogo. The Eagles quickly made two more buckets and at 17:33 the Irish were down by four, 7-3.

Cormac Ryan made a layup to get the Irish within two, and the Eagles responded with yet another three-point jumper, this one by Makai Ashton-Langford. Boston College followed up the three with a James Karnik layup and the Eagles were up 13-5. Nate Laszewski made his first layup at 15:53, assisted by Prentiss Hubb, which shrank the Eagle lead to six, 13-7. The threes just keeping falling, though, for the Eagles, with Makai Ashton-Langford making his second three-point jumper of the afternoon. 16-7, BC.

The Eagles continued to have a hot hand, and with twelve minutes remaining in half the Eagles were up 24-16. At 11:17, Dane Goodwin made a three-point jumper to cut the point difference to five, to which the Eagles responded with seven unanswered points, and the Eagles were up 31-19. Dane Goodwin ended the Eagle streak with a two-point jumper, and the BC lead was ten, 31-21.

The Fighting Irish took over the hot hand with just over seven minutes left in the half, going on a seven point run, with a three-point jumper and two-point layup by Prentiss Hubb, and a layup by Dane Goodwin, Irish within five points, 33-28 BC. But BC quickly responded with a layup and a dunk, and BC was back up by nine, 37-28.

Notre Dame just couldn’t get their momentum going in the first half, and as the half wound to a close, Trey Wertz made his first layup (with 41 seconds on the clock) and drew the foul, sinking the free throw to complete the three point play. Boston College up by seven at the half, 35-42.

Team Stats at the half:

Field Goal % - ND: 55.6% BC: 44.4%

Three Point % - ND: 33.3% BC: 38.5%

Turnovers - ND: 6 BC: 0

Rebounds - ND: 16 BC: 18

Second Half

The Eagles got the first bucket of the second half to go up by nine, but the Irish quickly responded with a three-point jumper by Hubb to cut the lead to six. The Irish, however, just couldn’t seem to get a scoring run going and the BC Eagles continued to control the lead in this game. At 16:15 Hubb sank a three-point shot, followed by an Irish steal on the next Eagle possession, which turned into a Wertz layup. Irish down by six, 53-47 BC. (Media timeout, 15:38)

At 14:00 left in the game, on a BC jumper, Boston College secured their largest lead of the game, up 59-47. The Irish just couldn’t seem to defend Boston College, or put together a scoring run to decrease the Eagle lead. Hubb’s layup at 8:43 got the Irish to within eight, 68-60, but the Irish not only couldn’t get a scoring run going, and they couldn’t stop turning over the ball either.

As the final minutes of the half ticked off, the Irish got within four points, on a Prentiss Hubb layup with just 48.2 seconds left in the game, taking their last timeout. After a foul on Nate Laszewski, and two successful free throws, the BC lead was shrunk to three 87-84. Then with 14.8 seconds left, the Irish shrunk the lead once more to two, 90-88, on a Hubb layup, and the Irish did everything they could to claw their way back to a win. BC inbounded the ball and was quickly fouled by ND (11.8 seconds), which sent the Eagles to the line, making both free throws, to bring the BC lead back up to four. Hubb dashed down the court and sunk yet another bucket to bring the Irish to within two again, and quickly fouled BC on the next BC possession. 6.0 seconds on the clock. BC headed to the free throw line and sunk both, 94-90 BC, and that was the game.

The Irish have two more regular season games left. On Wednesday, March 3rd, they play NC State at 7pm, and on Saturday, March 6th, they play Florida State at noon.

Final Game Team Stats:

Field Goal % - ND: 59.4% BC: 52.5%

Three Point % - ND: 31.8% BC: 47.4%

Turnovers - ND: 11 BC: 5

Rebounds - ND: 31 BC: 31

Scoring by the Notre Dame Starters:

Laszewski: 4-8 FG

Durham: 5-6 FG

Ryan: 3-7 FG

Hubb: 12-19 FG

Djogo: 1-3 FG

Cheers & GO IRISH!