By Cole Emery–
No. 13 Louisville survived their bout in South Bend, Ind. against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and won 67-64.
A slow start for the Cardinals allowed seven early points from Notre Dame. Senior John Mooney, who leads to country in rebounds per game, aided the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame (10-6, 1-4) entered the game with the third fewest turnovers in the country, only allowing 10 a game, but Louisville caused four turnovers in the first three and a half minutes of the game.
Senior Ryan McMahon came hot off the bench with consecutive contested layups to start a 19-3 run for the Cardinals.
Louisville (13-3, 4-1) went into halftime up 36-24 against the Fighting Irish. Junior Jordan Nwora and McMahon each had 12 points. Mooney had 10 points and 13 rebounds in the first half for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame came storming into the second half and went on a 13-3 run led by sophomore Dane Goodwin who drained two three-pointers during the run.
Even though the Cards started slow in the second half, they held onto their lead until Goodwin made another three pointer for Notre Dame with 7:08 left in the game.
Senior Dwayne Sutton came through in the final minutes to recapture the lead twice with two three-pointers. “If Dwayne Sutton is going to make those threes, you just have to tip your hat to him. He’s a good player,” Mooney said after the game.
In the final 30 seconds of the game, Notre Dame had a chance to tie the game and force overtime after a Mooney steal. After a lot of offensive ball movement, there was a missed layup and an offensive rebound that led to a missed three-pointer as time expired.
“I loved the way we finished the game,” Coach Chris Mack said after the game. “We needed to figure out how to cut through adversity.”
Sutton had 10 points and 14 rebounds for the game, Nwora racked up 20 points and McMahon secured 17 points off the bench.
The Cards will face off against Pittsburgh, Jan. 14 at the Petersen Events Center in their next matchup.
Photo by // The Louisville Cardinal
