An up and down game saw a strong finish.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish played host to the Duquesne Dukes in the final game of the Gotham Classic inside Purcell Pavilion. The Irish had already played four games in this “classic” and dropped one to Radford the other night.
Against Duquesne, the Irish built up a small lead in the first half thanks in part to the three point shots from freshman Prentiss Hubb who was 2-3 from behind the arc. Hubb led the Irish with 10 points in the first half.
The Dukes struggled in the first half with their 3 point shots, and were only 2-14 from three point land. Still, the Dukes kept it close enough and were able to drop a bucket in at the buzzer to go into halftime only down 6.
The Irish got off to a slow start in the second half, and the Dukes went on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 38 a piece. The Dukes got strong play from Tavian Dunn-Martin and Michael Hughes, but the Irish finally fought off a back and forth battle with a 13-0 run late in the game to pull away.
John Mooney led all scorers with 16 points, and he also brought down 10 rebounds for a double double. T.J. Gibbs had another rough shooting performance — both from the field and at the line, but ended up with 11 points.
