NCAA Tournament 2012: Xavier Capitalizes on Irish Mishaps, Beat Notre Dame

Greensboro may have been a little flat after the exasperating Lehigh win in the game before, but that didn’t mean that the Notre Dame vs. Xaver 7/10 game wasn’t exciting, as it went down to the last possession before Xavier sealed the deal against the Irish, winning 67-63.

With the game tied 60-60, Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant nailed a three-pointer to give the Irish the lead, but that was the last of it they’d see. After a Mark Lyons layup for the Musketeers, Notre Dame’s Eric Atkins turned the ball over and Tu Holloway capitalized after a Mike Brey timeout, with a go-ahead layup, putting Xavier up 64-63.

The Irish woes on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day continued after a missed three by Grant, and Dezmine Wells made one of two free throws for Xavier.

Eric Atkins was fouled with 2.8 left as he drove to the hoop, giving the Irish a chance to tie the game with two free throws. Atkins didn’t get opportunity to equalize however, as Jerian Grant was called for a lane violation when he started moving across the three-point line before Atkins released the ball. Xavier was given the ball and a Pat Connaughton foul was deemed intentional, ending the night and the season for Notre Dame, as the Musketeers got two shots and the ball, with two seconds left, up by two.

Up next for Xavier is Lehigh, which guarantees that we’ll have a double-digit team in the sweet sixteen. On a related note, Yahoo! doesn’t have a single perfect bracket remaining, giving new meaning to our site’s name, “Busting Brackets”.