Notre Dame Earns A Hard-Fought Victory Over Marshall

The Irish improved to 3-0 on the recent home stand to improve to 3-1 on the season.

Notre Dame improved to 3-1 on the season after a hard-fought 74-64 home victory over Marshall (1-2). After a balanced attack sparked the Irish to its first two wins of the season, Notre Dame relied on a strong start from TJ Gibbs and an outstanding finish from veteran forward John Mooney and sophomore guard Dane Goodwin to fuel the victory.

Mooney scored a career-high 28 points to go with 16 rebounds in the game, and 16 of his points came in the second half.

After the teams traded a pair of scores to start the game, Notre Dame jumped away quickly thanks to triples on three straight possessions, two by Gibbs. Later, a third three-pointer from Gibbs put the Irish up 25-8.

The offense stalled over the next seven minutes, as missed shots and turnovers allowed Marshall to get back into the game. A put-back by Marshall redshirt freshman Cam Brooks-Harris made it a 31-27 game and forced a timeout by Irish head coach Mike Brey.

Whatever Brey said worked, as the Irish veterans led a 9-2 run in the final three minutes that gave Notre Dame a 40-29 halftime lead. Mooney scored four of those points to give him a team-high 12 points to go with eight rebounds in the first twenty minutes. Gibbs added 11 points thanks to his three shots from deep.

Notre Dame extended the lead to 13 early in the second half, but turnovers, misses on the offensive end and aggressive play from Marshall resulted in the Thundering Herd going on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 49-46 with just over ten minutes remaining in the game.

Marshall kept clawing back, but Mooney and sophomore Dane Goodwin helped the Irish stay in front and ultimately pull away. After Marshall made it a 49-46 game, Mooney and Goodwin combined to score 18 of Notre Dame’s final 25 points to secure the victory.

It was a rough shooting night for the Irish, who made just 31.6-percent of their shots from the floor (24-76) and went just 7-28 from deep. Twenty-two offensive rebounds led to 13 second chance points, which helped make the difference in the game.

Mooney led all scorers and Goodwin chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds. Gibbs was the only other Irish player in double figures, scoring 15.

Since dropping the season opener against North Carolina, Notre Dame has not trailed during its 3-0 home stand.

Game four of that home stand is on Monday, when the Irish host Presbyterian (1-2).

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