Notre Dame bounces back against Santa Clara
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jerian Grant led four players in double figures with 20 points to help Notre Dame bounce back from a rare November home loss by beating Santa Clara 84-69 Friday night at Purcell Pavilion.
Garrick Sherman and Eric Atkins each scored 16 points and Demetrius Jackson added 13 for the Irish (3-1). Forward Austin Burgett had a team-best 10 rebounds and provided a defensive spark off the bench for Notre Dame.
The win ended a long five-day layoff for the Irish after suffering their first November home loss since 1998, and first in Mike Brey’s 14 years as coach, an 83-70 defeat by Indiana State last Sunday.
Santa Clara (2-2), also idle since Sunday, lost its second straight game. The Broncos were led by Brandon Clark’s 21 points, and Jared Brownridge added 16.
Early in the second half, Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton stole the ball and passed ahead to Grant, who missed a wide-open dunk. John McArthur’s jumper on the other end got the Broncos within four points, which they would do three more times in the second half before the Irish pulled away.
Burgett’s blocked shot and dunk on the other end with 8:35 to play highlighted a 12-0 run by Notre Dame that put the Irish ahead by 16 points, finally giving them some breathing room in an otherwise tight game.
Santa Clara used four early Irish turnovers to take a five-point lead, but a 7-0 Notre Dame run gave the advantage back to the Irish, 7:10 into the first half.
The lead changed hands 12 times in the first half, until Notre Dame went on a 10-0 run with 4:05 left before halftime to go up by nine points. The run was fueled by 3-pointers from Grant and Atkins, but also featured the hustle Burgett, who in one sequence had a steal, grabbed an offensive rebound on the other end, and eventually got the assist on Grant’s 3 from the left wing. Grant scored the last seven points of the run.
Notre Dame led by as many as 11 in the first half, but Clark’s drive to the bucket with four seconds left cut it to a six-point Irish lead at halftime.