Another nonconference game, another win.
Don’t be fooled by this final. It looked for a while like Notre Dame was going to let another inferior opponent hang around until the end. While Mid-American Conference member Bowling Green comes from a league slightly better than the Irish’s other nonconference opponents to this point, a loss to this program at Purcell Pavilion still would have been embarrassing. Fortunately, the Irish only have to think about an 82-66 win.
Although the Irish (5-0) led for most of the game, they couldn’t seem to shake the Falcons (2-3) completely. A [autotag]Nate Laszewski[/autotag] 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer gave the Irish a two-point lead, but the Falcons’ persistence continued into the second half, and they went in front, 61-59 near the frame’s halfway point. That’s when the Irish completely took over, outscoring the Falcons, 23-5, the rest of the way. They scored their final 17 points unanswered with the Falcons not scoring again until their final possession with seconds to play.
[autotag]JJ Starling[/autotag] had the best game of his young career with 23 points, six rebounds and three steals. Laszewski was just behind with 22 points, including four 3s. [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag] scored 12 off the bench, and [autotag]Dane Goodwin[/autotag] added 11. [autotag]Trey Wertz[/autotag] dished out a game-high six assists.
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