Notre Dame escapes Princeton

By PAUL GOTHAM

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Elite Eight participants the past two NCAA Tournaments, the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish needed a failed three-point attempt in the closing seconds to hold on to beat Princeton, 60-58 in the first round of the West Regional at the Key Bank Center, Thursday.

Devin Cannady’s deep three with less than 10 seconds remaining was off the mark, and the Fighting Irish moved on to face West Virginia on Saturday in the round of 32.

“They’re really good, but we’ve been in a lot of games like that, where game situations, having to make a big defensive stop, having to get a bucket, get it to the right guy, getting a ball in bounds to win a game,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.  “We’ve been there, really proud that we’re still alive.”

Bonzie Colson led all scorers with 18 on six of 13 shooting on a day when the Irish chose to exploit their advantage inside. ND came into the game attempting more than 24 shots behind the arc per game. Against Princeton, they took just 11 shots from long range.

“We tried to attack them with the three in the post,” Colson explained. “That’s the way we play, we can post up, we can play five all cutters and ball screen roll. We saw some mismatches and tried to attack the best we can.”

But for Notre Dame, Thursday’s effort was more about defense than their highly rated offense. At 38.6 percent from the floor, the Irish held Princeton more than five percent under their season shooting average of 45.2 including 25.8 percent behind the arc where the Tigers usually hit 38.3.

“Just running them off the three-point line,” junior guard Matt Farrell said. “We didn’t want to get them going from behind the arc and we did a good enough job to do that. They’re lethal from behind there. We had to do that and we had to rebound. We thought we had an advantage on that end, so we did both of those things.”

“You know, to force them into 8 for 31 is a heck of a job by us, and it’s probably why we won the game,” Brey stated. “We even blocked a couple. We got out. I thought our sense of urgency, switching stuff, getting out on shooters, was a key.”

Farrell hit a three then led Colson for a dunk to give Notre Dame a nine point lead at 45-34 with 13:37 remaining in the game.

Steven Cook stopped the spurt with a three, and Cannady pulled Princeton within five at 50-45 with a four-point play.

Myles Stephens converted a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game at 52-49.

“We’ve had an unbelievable run in close games,” Brey noted. “I think we’re 18-3 in our last 21 overtime games. That shouldn’t happen. The law of averages. But we’ve been in so many of them, we really believe, and I think in this tournament, this nucleus of guys, just feel like as this thing was getting close, well, that’s what we did all last year. We just stole wins to get to the Elite Eight.

“It’s very similar to two years ago, the Northeastern game, you know? A tough one, you escape, and maybe can get on a run. Our guys have really believe that, because they’ve experienced it, which is huge.”

Colson scored 10 in the first half.

The Tigers converted on six of eight possessions to take a 17-15 advantage with 11:24 to go in the half.

Notre Dame switched to zone defense and held Princeton without a point for the next seven possessions.

Trailing by two, Matt Ryan finished in the lane. Colson followed with two of his 10 first -half points. Steve Vasturia scored back-to-back buckets before V.J. Beachem found Ryan cutting in the lane for two and a 25-17 ND advantage.

Farrell hit three of five from behind the arc and finished with 16 for the Irish, but the junior point guard missed the front of a one-and-one situation with 10.6 seconds remaining to give Cannady a chance for the game winner.

Steve Vasturia added 10 for ND.

Spencer Weisz led Princeton with 15, but the senior forward scored just four points in the second half. Steven Cook scored 11 including a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer to pull Princeton within one at 55-54. Myles Stephens chipped in 10.

Notre Dame outscored Princeton in the paint (30-28), off turnovers (10-7) and on second-chance points (9-4). Princeton scored the only fast break points of the game and the Princeton bench edged Notre Dame, 11-10.