Notre Dame opens up the season with 90-69 win over Stonehill

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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish looked solid in their season-opening win over the Stonehill Seahawks inside Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday night, 89-60. The Irish shot over 50% from the floor with Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry scored team highs of 18 points and shot a combined 6-11 from behind the three point line.

From the ND press release:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Men’s basketball was officially back in Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday night and Notre Dame showed out in their 2024-25 debut. The Fighting Irish (1-0) defeated the Stonehill Skyhawks (1-1), 89-60, shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from three-point range.

The preseason talk of Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry being one of the best young backcourts in the ACC was on display tonight. Each recorded a game-high 18 points. Burton also supplied a team-high five assists. Shrewsberry had a highly proficient 4-for-5 night from deep, 6-for-9 overall from the field.

Graduate guard Matt Allocco joined them in double figures with 10 points. Furthermore, Kebba Njie finished one point shy of what would have been his first career double-double, tallying nine points and 10 rebounds. The 10 boards were one shy of his career best.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Tae Davis scored four of the team’s first 10 points to get the home squad out to a 10-5 lead before a spree of four turnovers tied the game at 10-all. The Irish reserves then sparked a 9-3 run which included five points from J.R. Konieczny along with Sir Mohammed taking a charge to force a turnover.

Fast forward to 10:04 in the first half and it was just a one-possession game (19-16). However, in a quick one minute and 42 seconds the Irish fired off a 10-0 run that was powered by treys from both Shrewsberry and Burke Chebuhar.

Speaking of Shrewsberry, he was the first in double figures, scoring his 10th point with 5:29 remaining until half, pushing the Irish ahead 33-22. That was followed by three-pointers from Allocco and Logan Imes, resulting in a 39-27 ND lead heading into the 3:05 media timeout.

In the last 10 minutes of the first half, the Irish outscored the Skyhawks 27-13, shooting 9-of-14 from the field in that span. Furthermore, Notre Dame had zero turnovers in the final 14:42 of the half.

Thus, Notre Dame boasted a 46-29 halftime lead with nine different players owning points on the box score. The Irish shot 16-of-32 (.500) from the field and 7-of-12 from three (.583), while dominating the glass at 24-13.

Fast forward again to 11:51 remaining in the game and the Irish were outpacing the Skyhawks 21-12 in the second half to take a 67-41 lead. Notre Dame’s five starters of Burton, Shrewsberry, Allocco, Davis and Njie were responsible for 19 of those 21 points.

A Burton three would give the Irish a 28-point lead to make it a 77-49 ballgame with 6:59 remaining. Garrett Sundra scored his first collegiate bucket at the 1:18 mark to extend the Irish lead with their largest lead of the night at 29 points to cap off the Irish win 89-60.

UP NEXT

Notre Dame retakes the court inside Purcell Pavilion on Monday, November 11, when they host Buffalo at 7 p.m. ET. Tickets are still available on FightingIrish.com.