Robert Sacre stars as Gonzaga Bulldogs rout Notre Dame Fighting Irish 73-53: NCAA Recap
Four Gonzaga players scored in double figures as Gonzaga Bulldogs continued their hot winning streak with a 73-53 victory over Notre Dame Fighting Irish on November 30, 2011 at the McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane.
“We got to keep our poise and stay together. This team has great chemistry and now we have to have great chemistry under fire. We are going to bank on those returning guys to help us with that,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said of their
team effort.
With Robert Sacre leading at 15, nine players scored for Gonzaga on the night.
Guard David Stockton came off the bench 15 points on 5 for 6 shooting from the field, including a perfect 3 for 3 from three-point range. Stockton also grabbed three rebounds, dished out three assists and stole the ball three times;
Kevin Pangos added 12 points while Elias Harris recorded a brilliant double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds and 11 points to go along with four assists.
Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant led all scorers with 16 points on 5 for 9 from the floor and 6 for 7 from free throw line. Pat Connaughton finished with 11 points, hitting 2 for 3 from downtown, and three rebounds for Fighting Irish,
who had beaten Bryant University Bulldogs 84-59 in the previous game.
The Bulldogs ended on 45.9 percent shooting from the floor and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe. Notre Dame, meanwhile, walked off with just 38.5 percent from the floor and 61.1 percent from the line. In addition to that, Gonzaga
outplayed the Fighting Irish 38-28 on rebounds and 16-6 on assists.
Notre Dame hit just 2 of the 14 three-point attempts.
"We just wanted to never have them be comfortable on offense and then we were very concerned about their 3’s," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.
The Bulldogs sprinted out to a double-digit lead, 16-6, early in the first half. They continued to dominate after that and pushed their advantage to 19 points, 35-16, with 2:05 to go in the first half.
Notre Dame however scored six consecutive points in the last two minutes to halt the charge and cut their deficit to 13-point, 35-22, at halftime.
Fighting Irish carried the momentum into the second half and cut Bulldogs’ deficit to nine-point, 43-34 early.
Harris however scored the next three points and Kevin Pangos followed him with a three to push the Bulldogs into double figures lead again, 49-34. Those shots pretty much knocked out the steam from the Fighting Irish and they
did not get any closer than 13 points for rest of the game.
Tags: