Notre Dame 112, California 110: Irish survive a four-overtime thriller

Markus Burton scored 43 points and Matt Allocco stepped up big time.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hosted the California Golden Bears on Senior Day at the Purcell Pavilion, hoping to close out a disappointing regular season on a positive note. Although seeding on Tuesday night of the ACC Tournament was the only thing on the line, the program badly needed some positive vibes and momentum heading into the postseason.

The Irish started out hot by winning the opening tip and draining a three pointer, courtesy of Matt Allocco. Jovan Blacksher responded with one of his own for the Golden Bears, but Markus Burton took the lead back with a free throw line jumper. The Irish almost came up with a steal when Cal got the ball back, but the resulting loose ball led to a leak out for free throws for the Golden Bears. After a Tae Davis lay-in, the Irish got the first stop of the game for either team, but Burton threw a pick-six to Jeremiah Wilkinson, apparently correcting the glitch in the game flow. He made up for the error by drawing contact on pull-up jumper and converting on a three point play. Blacksher hit a deep two the next trip down to bring the score to 10-9, Irish. With the offensive efficiency off the charts, this game had more scoring in the first three minutes than the Stanford game did in the first ten.

Both teams started to struggle a little bit more to get buckets after this first stretch, with a three by Wilkinson the only field goal amidst a bunch of free throws. A steal by Julian Roper led to a fast break for the Irish to take a 15-13 advantage, but DJ Campbell knocked down a three to bring the Golden Bears to 3-for-3 from deep to start the game. Meanwhile, the Irish possessions became increasingly unfocused, finding themselves forcing things with almost no time on the shot clock. Things were ugly for a bit until Roper got a corner three to fall after the ball bounced off of virtually every part of the hoop to get the Irish within one.

Burton was able to build on that bit of momentum to score on each of the next three trips down, bringing him up to a whopping 14 points in the game’s first 12 minutes. Unfortunately, the Irish were having trouble keeping Cal off the free thrown line. The Golden Bears were already 7-for-10 for the line and into the bonus at the under-8 timeout, which was helping them to keep pace.

Burton was theoretically unstoppable enough for the Irish to build a big lead, but the Irish defense, looking nothing like the the squad that stymied Stanford, were leaking enough for Cal to stay within striking distance. Oddly, Burton was on the bench when Notre Dame finally stretched the lead beyond six, thanks to a wide-open J.R. Konieczny three. However, an Andrej Stojakovic (yes, that’s Peja’s son) triple and a fast-break layup off of Allocco falling down while dribbling capped off a 7-0 run for California. Allocco would atone for his mistake with a drive for a layup, bringing the halftime score to 37-33; Burton had already scored 18 points.

The Irish got a nice life from Roper early in the second half, as he did his usual work on loose balls and his less-usual work getting to the rack in transition. California frustratingly kept getting to the foul line to keep their scoring moving, and Tae Davis, who sat most of the first half with two fouls, found himself picking up his third early in the second. Micah Shrewsberry waited a beat before pulling him out, which helped the Irish keep the pressure on offensively via his typical downhill momentum. Davis had racked up ten points in relatively little playing time.

Meanwhile, Cal had resorted to face-guarding Markus Burton, who wasn’t getting his hands on the ball much. The Golden Bears switched the 6’7’’ Stojakovic onto him, and the added size proved to be effective at slowing Burton down. Burton was able to get past him off the dribble, but Stojakovic was effective at blocking him from behind, which he did FIVE times in the second half. Other than a hook shot from Njie in the post, Notre Dame had trouble finding field goals after Davis headed to the bench.

Shrewsberry saw the problem and realized his bulldozer could sit no longer and sent Tae back into the game, who promptly got to the free throw line to restore some offensive stability. Unfortunately, the bulldozer’s Kryptonite was a stationary Lee Dort, who drew an easy charge call on Davis a couple plays later, giving him four fouls with 12 minutes to play and sending him back to the sideline.

With Davis back on the bench and Burton getting effectively schemed out of having either the ball or enough space to do anything, the Notre Dame offense got stuck in the muck pretty quickly. To their credit, the Irish defense had stepped up considerably from the first half, and Cal was only slowly able to crawl their way back within one. A huge Allocco three near the ten minute mark gave the Irish a little breathing room, but the mood of this one was tense.

Allocco and Konieczny stepped up with buckets in the lane with Burton still being erased by Stojakovic, but Cal started to see the ball go through the hoop again, as the Irish defense began to leak. With Njie out of the game with an injury (see bullet points), Sundra and Konstantynovskyi proved ineffective at protecting the rim, and the Golden Bears began to feast on drives and offensive rebounds. Allocco in particular was getting beat off the dribble a lot in this stretch, who fortunately was having a good enough offensive game to compensate.

With the Irish nursing a one-point lead, Konieczny found a way to step up for back-to-back buckets. He tried to posterize Mady Sissoko with an open lane for a dunk and didn’t exactly succeed, but the ball wound up rolling around the rim and in. He then took a confident-but-difficult fadeaway jumper that went nothing-but-net. The Irish needed both, because Campbell tied the game at 61 with a three with 5:30 to play.

With just over 5 minutes to go, Shrewsberry pulled the trigger on bringing Davis back into the game. This coincided with Mark Madsen finally pulling Stojakovic from the game, who was exhausted from chasing around Burton. On the very first Stojakovic-less possession, Burton finally had some room to operate, spun threw the lane, and made a nice dish to Konstantynovskyi for a dunk. Campbell responded with a bucket in the lane for Cal, leaving the game knotted up at 63 at the under-4 timeout with Stojakovic due to check back in.

A huge Roper steal of an attempted post entry pass was the first big play made out of the break, and it led to yet another bucket from Konieczny, who was punching way above his weight in the second half. Stojakovic found some room to drive and make a bank shot on the other end, which tied the game with under two minutes to play. Grab your nitroglycerin pills.

Notre Dame was finally able to get Davis back involved with the offense on the next trip down, and he got fouled going to the hoop on a sort of questionable call. Tae made one of two free throws to give the Irish a one point lead with 1:24 to play. Roper contested a tough Stojakovic jumper on the next Cal possession which rimmed out, and Konstantynovskyi grabbed his season-high 12th rebound to give the Irish possession with the lead heading into the final minute.

Then, Cal did something that I could not understand. The running theme of the second half was Stojakovic swallowing up Burton and making other Irish players do the damage. However, as Burton slowly brought the ball up, Stojakovic was checking Roper in the corner for some reason, leaving the much smaller DJ Campbell on Burton. Shrewsberry saw the defensive mistake right away and had Davis screen for Burton to get the even smaller Jeremiah Wilkinson switched onto Burton. Practically licking his chops, Burton got downhill and fouled. He made one of two free throws with 45 seconds left, to give the Irish a two-point lead.

Unfortunately, Wilkinson got downhill relatively quickly off of Burton’s miss. Konstantynovskyi got switched onto him when Roper got screened, and Tae Davis fouled out of the game when he came over to help. An 80% free throw shooter, Wilkinson only managed to make one of two, giving the Irish a one-point lead and 33 seconds to burn. Shrewsberry called timeout to set something up.

Then, one of the weirdest officiating sequences I’ve ever seen took place. The Irish got the ball into Burton. He evaded a trap, but was forced to pick up his dribble. Stojakovic tried to tie him up, and Burton, trying to pull away, wound up elbowing Stojakovic in the face. An offensive foul was called, and after extended discussion it certainly looked like there was some risk it would be elevated to a flagrant. In a shocking twist, the officials ruled that it was actually a “cylinder foul” on Stojakovic, for illegally contacting Burton in the imaginary cylinder around him extending from the floor to the ceiling.

Burton, again, unfortunately made only one of two free throws, which opened the door again for Cal. Blacksher drew a foul on Burton on the next possession and knocked down both free throws to tie the game, giving the Irish 14 seconds to try to win the game. After not much action on the offensive end, Allocco took a contested three that rimmed out, which sent the game into overtime, with Davis eliminated from the game.

Overtime started off shakily as Sissoko got a quick dunk off of some Wilkinson penetration. A very similar play on Cal’s next possession resulted in Sissoko getting to the free throw line, where he’d make one of two to stretch the lead to three. Burton, who hadn’t made a field goal since halftime, finally had a successful drive and drew the critical fourth foul on Stojakovic. Stojakovic got his revenge the next trip down with an easy layup, getting the Cal lead back to three.

The teams were scoring at will at this point, with little rim resistance being shown on either end. After the Irish finally got a stop, Allocco took the ball the full length of the court before Cal’s defense got set to get the Irish within one with a minute to play. Unfortunately, Stojakovic got that one right back on a drive on the other end. The Irish defense without Davis and Njie was comically soft.

Then, Markus Burton changed the tenor of the game in heartbeat when he finally shock Stojakovic with a nice crossover and found himself with daylight for an open three. He drilled it, tying the game and sending the Purcell Pavilion into a frenzy with 35 seconds to play. Mohammed did a great job closing out on Campbell’s three-point attempt, but the rebound went to Cal. On the ensuing inbounds play, Allocco forced a tough shot from Stojakovic that went off the back of the rim. Double overtime.

The Irish drew first blood in the next overtime period when Allocco got trapped with almost no time left on the shot clock, but a quick pass to Konstantynovskyi under the hoop led to an easy two as time expired. A mid-range jumper from Burton expanded the lead to four, but Wilkinson hit a deep contested three to keep Cal in the mix. Burton, again finding a non-Stojakovic defender on him, drove, got fouled, and made two free throws. After Stojakovic badly bricked an open three, Burton was checked by Campbell (who will be seeing Burton in his nightmares) again and shook loose for a three pointer. Irish by six, 1:37 to play.

Once again, Wilkinson hit a deep three contested by Roper to get the lead back down to three and just over a minute to play. The Irish came up empty on their next possession, and Sissoko charged right down the middle of the lane for an easy bucket. Konstantynovskyi was practically trying to let him have it without fouling, but the officials called an extremely soft foul Sissoko knocked down the free throw, and we were inexplicably tied again with 29 seconds to go.

After the Irish broke the press, Burton held the ball for the final shot. He drove and once again kicked the ball to an open Certa at the three point line. Certa, who hadn’t made a shot to this point today, saw his three-point attempt bounce out. Triple overtime.

Wilkinson opened the third overtime with yet another three pointer to put the Irish in the hole, but a couple possessions later, Burton would respond with one of his own. After a free throw for the Golden Bears, Burton drilled an impossible contested three to put the Irish back up two, but Stojakovic went hard to the rim and scored to tie the game back up.

A nice drive by Konieczny got him a good look that bounced out, and Konstantynovskyi collected his fourth foul on the rebound. Sissoko would make one of two, putting the Irish down one with 75 seconds to play. The Irish put the ball back in Burton’s hands, guarded by Stojakovic. He drove and got bumped, which finally was Stojakovic’s fifth foul. Unfortunately, Burton only converted on one of two free throws, tying the game at 95 with a minute to play.

Campbell took a contested three with Burton in his face and missed, and Julian Roper secured a tough rebound to get the Irish the ball back with just 39 seconds to go. After Notre Dame couldn’t get anything going, Shrewsberry called timeout. The inbounds pass went to Allocco, but the Golden Bears wouldn’t let the Irish get the ball back to Burton. Allocco took matters into his own hands and barreled through Blacksher on the drive, making a very tough lay-up to put the Irish up two with 12 seconds to play.

Unfortunately, Wilkinson took the ball practically all the way to the hoop and made a contested lay-in in less than seven seconds, giving the Irish one chance to win with 5.6 seconds to play. Shrewsberry used his final timeout to set something up. They went to Allocco on the inbounds pass, who drove most of the length of the floor and had to put up a contested jumper. It rimmed out, which sent us to overtime number four. Buckle up, buckaroos.

Cal got off to a hot start with a jumper by Blacksher, Campbell would follow it up with a two, drawing the fourth foul on Burton. It would be Allocco with the first response from the Irish, as he drove to the hoop and drew the fifth foul on big man Sissoko, a major blow to the Golden Bears. However, an even bigger blow was laid to Notre Dame as Burton committed his fifth foul on a rebound. Burton finished with 43 points, and was visibly upset as he went to the bench. The Irish were now facing a four point deficit without their two best players.

Then, a mircale happened when the Irish looked dead in the water. Konstantynovskyi made a tough bank shot off a spin move, and after the Irish got a stop, Allocco hit a top-of-the-key three to put the Irish up by one with under two minutes left. Wikinson had yet another response with a three, but Allocco made a baseline fadeaway to yet again tie the game with under a minute to play.

The Irish didn’t play great defense on Cal’s next possession. Blacksher got good penetration and was able to shuffle it to Dort, who hammered the ball home and gave Cal a two-point lead. With one last chance for the Irish, Allocco dribbled around a screen and somehow found himself with daylight at the arc. He let it fly and it went through. Irish by one, 15 seconds to go.

Now, the Irish had to dig in and guard. Wilkinson, who had been keeping Cal in this thing the whole way with his offense, took the ball down the floor. Allocco switched onto him when he drove past Roper. He forced Wilkinson baseline, and while spinning, Wilkinson dribbled the ball over the baseline for a miracle turnover with 4.5 seconds left. The Irish inbounded the ball to Cole Certa, who had missed every shot he’d taken to this point. Certa stepped up and knocked down both free throws to put the Irish up three, not coming particularly close to missing either.

With 4.5 seconds left, the Irish elected to foul Spencer Mahoney to prevent Cal from taking a three. Mahoney knocked down both, forcing the Irish to inbounds with four seconds to go. They got it in to Garrett Sundra, who was in the game for rebounding purposes on the free throw. Sundra made the first and missed the second. Rytis Petraitis grabbed the board and only had time for a heave. He let it fly, and it thudded off the backboard harmlessly, ending a marathon of a game.

Bullet Points

• There were eight seniors in the graphic for Senior Day, but only two (Nikita Konstantynovskyi, Matt Allocco) drew the start.
• The Irish caught a break at the end of the first half when a Cole Certa miss bounced out of bounds, but the official ruled that it was Irish ball after Stojakovic swiped at the rebound and clearly didn’t touch it, leading to Allocco’s bucket before the half.
• Sir Mohammed swatted DJ Campbell into oblivion on a fast break.
• Njie and Sissoko smashed heads jostling for a rebound in the second half, and Njie took the worst of it. Sissoko remained in the game while Njie headed to the locker room and never returned.
• The Boston College / Pittsburgh game was scheduled to air on the ACC Network after this game. It was joined in progress with 15 minutes left in the second half.
• Konstantynovskyi finished with 17 rebounds, and Allocco finished with 24 points.