The Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament already has an upset after one game. The 13th-seeded 2005-06 Irish squeaked by the 12th-seeded 2008-09 Irish, 68-65, to open the first round. Like all great college basketball games, this one came down to the wire.
After leading for much of the first half, the ’05-06 Irish fell behind by eight at halftime. From there, they came back to take the lead, but the ’08-09 Irish stayed on their tail to the point where the game was tied at 65 with over two minutes to play. The score stayed there until Kyle McAlarney was fouled with 52 seconds left and hit two free throws to make it 67-65. Torin Francis then tipped away a jump hook from Tyrone Nash on the other end, and Rob Kurz came up with it, allowing the ’05-06 Irish to burn some clock.
After Russell Carter missed a shot, Francis collected the offensive rebound and got the ball back to Carter, who was fouled and had a chance to ice the game with two free throws with eight seconds left. Carter made the first shot, but missed the second, and Luke Harangody got the rebound, giving the ’08-09 Irish one chance to force overtime. Harangody missed a straightaway 3 at the buzzer, and the oldest Irish team in the field was able to celebrate. They will play the fifth-seeded 2016-17 Irish in the second round.
Chris Quinn led the ’05-06 Irish with 17 points, and Carter was just behind him with 15. Francis just missed out on a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds. Kurz came up short on double figures in both of those categories at eight points and nine boards.
Harangody’s 21-point, 17-rebound effort for the ’08-09 Irish went to waste, as did a 12-point game from Tory Jackson.
