After a tough loss last night and a not-great first half this evening, the Irish cruised to a blowout win over the overmatched D-II hosts of the Maui Invitational
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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball team defeated the Division-II Chaminade Silverswords late Tuesday night by a final score of 90 to 64 in a game where the Irish struggled initially, but ultimately completely dominated.
The Irish were led on the evening in scoring by Dane Goodwin, who scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting (3-of-5 from 3) while also adding 3 rebounds. He was followed closely by Nate Laszewski, who put together a fantastic double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds, making 6-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from deep. Blake Wesley (14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Paul Atkinson Jr. (12 points, 6 rebounds), and Cormac Ryan (11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) played key roles in the victory as well.
Furthermore, Prentiss Hubb finally looked a bit more like himself in the second half, at one point scoring back-to-back-to-back baskets on aggressive drives to the rim while also finally connecting on a three-point shot in transition. He finished with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists while shooting 5-for-10 overall.
The Irish shot 56% from the field and 46% from three-point range, showing a marked improvement from the previous night, as expected against lesser competition. ND also won the rebounding battle 43 to 32.
The Silverswords were led by Isaac Amaral-Artharee (16 points), with other solid contributions from Zach McIntire (13 points, 6 rebounds) and Paris Taylor (10 points). They shot 35% overall and 36% from deep, cooling off just a bit after hitting 40% of their threes in the first half.
The game started off with the Irish leaping to an early lead on the back of Dane Goodwin scoring 8 quick points, but the Silverswords refused to go that quietly and quickly pulled themselves back into it, chipping away at the deficit and hitting a few difficult shots to hang around.
Late in the first half Chaminade even took the lead over the Irish, but Blake Wesley, Trey Wertz, and Cormac Ryan made some plays to retake the lead, including Wesley going coast-to-coast for a buzzer-beater layup to finish the half. ND led 41-38 at the intermission.
Post-halftime, the Irish came scorching out of the gates, adding to their 2-0 run to end the first half with a 25-4 run to begin the second. By the 11-minute mark, the Irish held a 66-45 lead and were in complete control of the game. From there, the Irish maintained a sizable lead and got some late playing time for the reserves, ultimately winning by 26.
The Irish improve to 3-1 on the season and will play for 5th place on Wednesday evening against the Texas A&M Aggies, who defeated Butler 57-50 earlier in the day Tuesday. The Irish and Aggies will tip off at 11:30pm ET to finish off the Maui Invitational late Wednesday evening.
