National Basketball Association
Notre Dame 70, Miami-Florida 63
When: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, March 12, 2015
Where: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina
Officials:
# Tim Comer, # Brian Dorsey, # Jerry Heater
Attendance:
22026
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 9 Notre Dame 70, Miami (Fla.) 63: Steve Vasturia scored 16 points and the Fighting Irish survived blowing a 20-point lead in the ACC quarterfinals at Greensboro, N.C.
Pat Connaughton added 14 points – all in the first half – as third-seeded Notre Dame (27-5) led 41-21 late in the first half before not making a field goal for nearly 12 minutes to start the second half. Jerian Grant scored 13 points with six assists and six rebounds for the Fighting Irish, who will play second-seeded and No. 2 ranked Duke in Friday’s semifinals.
Angel Rodriguez scored 15 points to lead the sixth-seeded Hurricanes (21-12), who must wait to see if they earn an NCAA Tournament berth. Tonye Jekiri finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 3:26 remaining, and Miami shot 36.4 percent from the field.
Miami erased an 18-point halftime deficit with a 22-4 run to start the second half, and grabbed its first lead at 51-49 on two Sheldon McClellan free throws with 6:30 left before Vasturia answered with a 3-pointer from the left corner on the ensuing possession. Demetrius Jackson's basket helped extend the Fighting Irish's advantage to 60-54 with 1:33 left, and Notre Dame hung on after Miami got within three points on Deandre Burnett’s basket with just under a minute to go by hitting 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute.
Three Connaughton 3-pointers in a 1½-minute span pushed Notre Dame's advantage to 28-11 just over midway through the first half. Connaughton’s jumper extended the lead to 43-25 at intermission, but the Hurricanes used a pair of 3-pointers by Ivan Cruz Uceda and three Reed free throws to get within 44-41 with just over 11 minutes to play.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Notre Dame hit 11 of its first 15 shots and shot 62.5 percent from the field in the first half, going 8-of-13 from 3-point range, before missing its first 10 shots of the second half. … Connaughton went 4-of-4 from 3-point range in the first half, 0-of-5 after intermission. … The Hurricanes finished 5-of-20 from 3-point range.
Top Game Performances
| Miami-Florida |
|
Notre Dame |
|
Angel Rodriguez 15 |
Scoring |
Steve Vasturia 16 |
|
Manu Lecomte 1 |
Assists |
Jerian Grant 6 |
|
Tonye Jekiri 11 |
Rebounds |
Zach Auguste 9 |
|
Tonye Jekiri 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Jerian Grant 6 |
|
Sheldon McClellan 4 |
Steals |
Zach Auguste 3 |
|
N/A |
Blocks |
Bonzie Colson 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Miami-Florida
|
63 |
36.4 |
5-20 |
18-25 |
5 |
30 |
0 |
10 |
8 |
| Notre Dame
|
70 |
48.8 |
9-22 |
19-27 |
15 |
31 |
7 |
7 |
12 |
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