Hurricanes Escape Notre Dame With Narrow Victory

The Hurricanes escaped Notre Dame with a crucial victory Monday night. This game pitted two teams fighting to make it into the NCAA tournament. Lonnie Walker led the Hurricanes with 19 points on 7/14 shooting (5/7 from three). Martinas Geben (Senior Forward) led the Fighting Irish with 19 points as well on 7/11 shooting in a losing effort.

Lonnie Walker came out firing as he nailed his first points of the game from downtown. But, Geben of the Irish kept his team in the game by scoring in the paint. The Hurricanes were good at preventing the crowd from getting too involved in the game. After a Notre Dame turnover, Chris Lykes tapped the loose ball to himself to create a fastbreak. He drove right into the body of Geben to finish a tough up and under layup that silenced the crowd. Then, Anthony Lawrence found Lonnie Walker for a open three at the first half buzzer. The Canes led 38-29 at the half, and had momentum on their side.

The Fighting Irish started the second half much more aggressively. They outplayed the Hurricanes for the first 10 minutes of the second half. Notre Dame tied the game at 52 on a deep three by Matt Farrell. Then, the Irish hit another three to give themselves the first lead of the game at 55-52. With the crowd back in the game, and both teams seasons on the line, Miami needed to respond.

With six minutes left in the game and the score tied at 62, Walker hit a contested three from the corner to give Miami the lead. On the next Hurricanes possession, Walker hit a mid-range pull up to extend the lead to 5.

With the Irish still fighting, Ebuka Izundu helped close the game for the Canes. He made a crucial block, then scored on putbacks on two consecutive possessions. Thanks to clutch performances down the stretch, Miami left Indiana with their hopes of making the tournament intact.