As Notre Dame furiously tried to keep its 13-game winning streak against Boston College alive in the waning moments of Saturday’s contest at Purcell Pavilion, Irish radio play-by-play announcer Jack Nolan reminded listeners that the arena is one of the easiest places to shoot in the country. It’s easy to the point where Nolan said he once made three 3-pointers while playing in a charity game there. He brought this up because the Eagles’ hot shooting in the game (49.2 percent from the field) and particularly in the first half put them on the precipice of a win. Yet it took enduring a 13-3 Irish run and Marcel Goodwin’s missed half-court shot at the buzzer for Boston College to complete a surprising 73-72 win in South Bend.
Derryck Thornton was the best shooter for the Eagles (5-5, 2-0) by going 9 of 12 from the field in a 19-point effort. Jay Heath did most of his damage from downtown as he scored 12 of his 16 points behind the 3-point line. Jared Hamilton came off the bench and added 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
T.J. Gibbs played the entire game for the Irish (6-3, 0-2) and justified Mike Brey’s decision to have him do that with a game-high 22 points. John Mooney achieved his latest double-double with 16 points and 18 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end. But they weren’t enough for Notre Dame to overcome 39.7 percent shooting from the field on an afternoon in which half of its shots came from behind the 3-point line, where it went 8 for 29.