Notre Dame survives upset-minded Princeton despite second-half scoring drought

Notre Dame celebrates a 60-58 victory over Princeton during the first-round men’s college basketball game in the NCAA tournament, Thursday, March 16, 2017, in Buffalo, N.Y.

Princeton had plenty of chances to pull off an upset to kick off the NCAA tournament.

In the first game of the Big Dance, the No. 12 seed Tigers had four shots to tie or take the lead late over No. 5 seed Notre Dame on Thursday in the first round of the West Region, but the Ivy League champions just couldn’t get over the hump.

Notre Dame led most of the way but after its lead grew to 12 in the second half, its offense went completely cold the rest of the way. As the Irish endured a lengthy scoring drought (8:54 to 2:08 without a field goal), Princeton worked its way into position for the upset. When Steven Cook hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 to play, the lead was cut to 55-54.

Notre Dame’s dry spell finally ended when the Irish fed Bonzie Colson down low for a bucket to increase the lead to three. From there, Princeton’s Devin Cannady, who entered the game tied with Cook at 13.7 points per game to lead the team, bricked what would have been a game-tying 3.

Colson built the lead to five, 59-54, with two free throws on the ensuing possession, but the Tigers quickly responded with a Pete Miller layup after an offensive rebound.

After the teams traded misses, Cook, with a chance to tie it, missed another triple but Miller tipped in the miss to cut the lead to one, 59-58, with 19 seconds remaining. Princeton then fouled the usually-reliable Matt Farrell, but the Irish junior missed the front-end of a one-and-one to give the Tigers a chance to win it in the final seconds.

Cannady, a 42-percent 3-point shooter, had another clean look but his shot was long, allowing the Irish to escape and advance into the Round of 32.

This is an experienced Notre Dame bunch, reaching the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons, but the Irish were lucky to survive its lackluster second half. Princeton, which went unbeaten in Ivy play this season, is a team that shoots 38 percent from distance, but went just 8-of-31 (25.8%) in this one, including 3-for-13 in the second half.

The Tigers had plenty of open looks for their best shooters, Cannady and Cook (both 42% from 3), down the stretch, but those shots just wouldn’t drop. And if it weren’t for the post presence of Colson down the stretch, Princeton may have pulled out a win despite its own cold shooting.

If Notre Dame is going to make another run, it needs more out of forward V.J. Beachem. The senior struggled mightily in this one, scoring just two points on 1-of-9 from the field. The Irish also withstood a poor shooting effort from another senior, Steve Vasturia. Vasturia, the do-it-all guard, scored 10 points while grabbing eight boards, but did so on just 3-of-12 shooting.

Next for the Irish is the winner of Thursday’s matchup between No. 4 seed West Virginia and No. 13 seed Bucknell.