Notre Dame Basketball Starts Slow, Finishes Strong over BC: Highlights

Frank Vitovitch February 15, 2017

For the better part of the first half last night it looked like Notre Dame’s recent turnaround was going to be short lived. Despite a rough start Tuesday night in Chestnut Hill, Notre Dame won their third game in a row last night with an 84-76 road victory over Boston College.

Fresh off a convincing win over Florida State on Saturday night, the Irish were sluggish out of the gate last night against Boston College falling behind by as many as 13 before heading into half time down 10. The second half was all Irish though as Notre Dame outscored the Eagles 45-27 enroute to their 20th victory of the season.

Notre Dame received a balance scoring output from their big four last night Bonzie Colson leading the way with 20, Matt Farrell adding 19, VJ Beachem 18, and Steve Vasturia 15. Farrell did most of his damage from behind the arc connecting on 5 of 11 attempts.

After returning to the Top 25 on Monday after back to back wins over Wake Forest and Florida State last week, it looked like their return was going to be short lived for a while Tuesday. Boston College was on a torrid pace at half time with a 49 point outburst. Luckily for Notre Dame, the Eagles went cold in the second half while the Irish heated up. Notre Dame used a 21-3 run early in the second half to seize control.

Notre Dame continued its hot free throw shooting connecting on 19 of 21 attempts. During their four game losing streak a couple weeks ago, the Irish were not hitting their free throws like that had all season. Over the last three games, however, the Irish have gotten back to leading the nation in free throw shooting.

That clutch shooting came in handy during the closing minutes when Boston College narrowed the Irish lead to two points at 78-76 with just under a minute remaining. Steve Vasturia, VJ Beachem, and Bonzie Colson then connected on six straight free throws to close this one out.

With the win Notre Dame has 20 wins on the season for the third straight year and the 13th time in the Mike Brey era. Notre Dame has now won at least 20 games in three of the four seasons in which they have been in the ACC.

Notre Dame returns to action on Saturday against NC State for a noon tipoff in Raleigh. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. The Irish will following up Saturday’s matinee with two more games against unranked opponents – rematches with Georgia Tech and Boston College.