The Notre Dame Fighting Irish take two overtimes to top the Georgia Bulldogs
It took a little more than regulation to decide the winner of Thursday night’s contest between the Georgia Bulldogs and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. But when all was said and done, the Fighting Irish walked
away with a 89-83 double overtime win over Georgia in the first round of the Old Spice Classic.
Notre Dame, who trailed by a dozen points at halftime, was led by a pair of senior forwards. Tim Abromaitis scored 25 points and pulled down six rebounds, while Tyrone Nash also contributed six boards and
tallied 18 points.
“What a Thanksgiving for Notre Dame fans. They probably threw up some turkey around the country,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said after the game, according to the Associated Press. “I’m really proud of our
group. Fifth game of the season, to be up against the wall and find a way to fight it out and get a win. Something for us to really build on. A lot of guys made key plays for us.”
“Nice to see the mental toughness of a group early in the season,” he concluded.
Notre Dame remains undefeated on the young season (5-0), as their defence played a major role in their most recent victory. They crept back into the game with a strong defensive stand throughout the second
half, holding the Bulldogs without a basket over a six minute span while scoring 14 unanswered during that stretch. After forcing the game to a second overtime, they eventually pulled away with some clutch free throw shooting.
Although he had a solid performance, Bulldogs guard Travis Leslie’s 23 points and nine rebounds weren’t enough to keep Georgia (3-1) from suffering their first loss of the season. In his first game of the
season, Trey Thompkins also provided a great effort for the Bulldogs, scoring 13 points and snatching 10 rebounds. Thompkins, who led the Bulldogs last season in both scoring and rebounding, had been sidelined for the team’s first three contests while nursing
a high ankle sprain.
The glaring disparity between the two squads was most apparent at the free throw line, which is likely where Georgia could’ve won the game had they been more accurate. Notre Dame hit 30 of its 43 attempts
from the line, while the Bulldogs shot just 50 per cent (10 of 20) from the charity stripe, including several late misses.
“We kind of got stuck. When we had chances to get easy points, we didn’t take advantage of it,” Georgia coach Mark Fox told reporters afterwards. “Make one of them and you win in regulation. We didn’t make
enough plays to win.”
Nash, however, asserts that after the Irish re-evaluated themselves at the half, the Bulldogs would’ve had a difficult time stopping his squad regardless.
“We came in at halftime and said, ‘What are we going to do with adversity?’” Nash said, according to the AP. “Defense wins games and we tried to go out there and make our stand. I’m happy with the win. It
was a team effort.”
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