NCAA Tournament: Notre Dame advances with a late tip-in over Stephen F. Austin
Notre Dame advances to Philadelphia after a victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The number 14 seeded Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks were in another tough test today against one of the toughest teams in the ACC, Notre Dame, but they failed to come out victorious, losing 76-75 to the Irish on a late second tip-in.
This had all the makings of a great March Madness game. Two teams that refused to lose and go away – just when you think you have the upper hand, the other gets hot and goes on a big run.
Notre Dame learned a lot from what WVU failed to do in their game against SFA on Friday night, and that is to contain Thomas Walkup. The Fighting Irish were able to get Walkup into foul trouble early in the game and that forced him to sit for a critical minutes in the first frame.
Walkup is one of those players who if he’s on your team, you love him, and if you’re playing against him, you hate to see him because he makes clutch plays and makes everyone around him better. The senior never shows any emotion on the court, he’ll make you miss, and he tends to throw up some wild shots that tend to drop nine times out of 10.
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The first half was a back and forth contest where neither squad could get the upper hand, and out last the other. Notre Dame tried everything they could to pull ahead of the Lumberjacks but Brad Underwood’s team had no quit thanks to Demetrious Floyd, who was on fire from beyond the arc.
The Lumberjacks kept their cool, played their game, and kept themselves in the game long enough to push the number six seeded Irish.
Mike Brey’s squad was able to go into half with the lead as they got the last possession of the first 20 minutes. With great ball movement, the Irish found an open man across the court, V.J. Beachem, for a buzzer beater to take the lead by one 42-41.
But the Lumberjacks have been the Cinderella story of the year so they weren’t going down without a fight. They gave Notre Dame the fight of their lives in the second half.
No team in this game lead by more then seven, it was back and forth the entire second frame.
Down the stretch, it was time for Walkup to do what he does best, and that’s frustrate the other team. He was hitting big shot after big shot in the second half. He was also able to find the open man on break and finished at the rim with ease.
The difference came down to Brey’s late sub: their defensive specialist Rex Pflueger.
And in the end, he became the hero.
Pflueger was able to get into paint, get a little dirty, and tip back a miss with 1.5 seconds left on the clock to give the Fighting Irish a one point lead in the game. The Lumberjacks missed the ensuing half court heave and the Irish would escape with a nail biting victory.
And that’s what sends Notre Dame to the Sweet 16.
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They will now prep and wait for the winner of Xavier-Wisconsin, who they will meet in Philadelphia later this week.