Abromaitis scores 22 as Notre Dame rolls
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Tim Abromaitis’ hustle plays were the difference in helping No. 9 Notre Dame move closer to securing a double-bye in the Big East tournament.
Abromaitis scored 22 points, Ben Hansbrough had 21 and the Irish beat Seton Hall 60-48 Saturday night to remain in second place in the conference. Notre Dame (23-5, 12-4) can lock up a bye in the first two rounds of the league tournament when it faces Villanova on Monday night.
“That double-bye is big for us,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said. “It keeps us looking forward and not behind us. There is a lot going on back there (in the standings) and I’ve tried to talk to the team about chasing (first-place) Pittsburgh, rather than looking back.”
Abromaitis came up big at the end of the first half as he gathered in a loose rebound and made an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired to pull the Irish to 27-24 after a half in which they shot only 32 percent and committed 7 turnovers.
“It was nice going into the locker room with only a 3-point deficit,” Abromaitis said. “The shot might have been a little bit lucky, but it was good for us to see it go down. I think it helped us make up for the good shots we had that didn’t go down.”
For coach Kevin Willard, whose Pirates fell to 11-17, 5-11, it was just more of the same things that his team has faced all year.
“Those are the plays that really get you,” he said. “It has been the way our season has gone. Being up 3 at halftime is still big, especially on the road, but that shot gave them a lot of energy.”
The teams played close early in the second half, with the Irish taking a 31-30 lead. Then, Abromaitis made another key play in the middle of Notre Dame’s 13-0 run. After several near misses by Notre Dame, the ball bounced toward a couple of Seton Hall players but Abromaitis dove on it and passed it to Hansbrough, who converted a 3-point play.
“I call those heart plays,” Hansbrough said. “And we had a lot of them tonight. That’s really why we won, because of our heart plays. We did not win because of our offensive flow, because we did not have our best flow tonight. We got stops when we needed to, and we found ways to win.”
Seton Hall pulled to 44-43 on a rebound by Fuquan Edwin with six minutes remaining but consecutive 3-pointers by Abromaitis and Scott Martin sealed the Irish’s win.