Xavier’s Justin Menard dribbles the ball against Notre Dame-West Haven on Friday night.
Dave Phillips / For Hearst Connecticut Media
WEST HAVEN — For a little while, it looked like Notre Dame-West Haven might have trouble surviving Friday night.
But the sixth-ranked Green Knights (4-0) fought off a fourth-quarter charge from Xavier to post a 56-47 victory over the Falcons in front of a limited crowd.
“Tonight, we were sloppy, but I give a lot of credit to Xavier,” Notre Dame coach Jason Shea said. “They did a good job, played hard and were very physical. We’re tough to beat here, but we know we play them in a couple weeks there and it will be a challenge.”
Ahead just 43-41 with 6:14 to play, Notre Dame went on a 9-3 run with a couple of layups and a 3-pointer by Tre Rawlins (17 points) to take a 52-44 lead with 2:55 to play.
“The key was staying composed and focused as a team,” Rawlins said. “We had to use our principles and what we’ve seen on film.”
Xavier didn’t help itself as Justin Menard (game-high 23 points) missed a pair of free throws and Parker Hunter one that could have closed the gap.
A pair of free throws by Ben Carroll (13 points) with 1:17 remaining iced things for the Green Knights.
“We played our butts off and we didn’t give them any easy baskets. We just had a couple bad stretches,” said Xavier coach Mike Kohs. “The killer was the end of the third quarter. They bang a three, then we had a careless turnover and they get a basket right before the buzzer. That stretch against a good team really makes a difference.”
Notre Dame raced out to a 5-0 lead at the start of the contest, but the Falcons went on a 13-2 spurt from there with Justin Menard canning a pair of 3-pointers from each side of the court to give Xavier a 13-7 lead.
The Green Knights closed it to 13-12 early in the second quarter before Menard hit a pair of free throws to give Xavier a 17-13 edge.
“We had to execute our defense better and we weren’t executing screen coverage,” Shea said. “Menard was hitting a lot of shots. He’s a good player with great range.”
Notre Dame went on a 9-0 run from there with a Tevis Blount layup giving the Green Knights a 22-17 lead with 1:40 remaining before halftime.
“We knew they’d try and stop me and Tre inside by double teaming us early,” said Carroll. “We did our best to kick it out to our shooters. We just spread the love and that’s what kept us in the game.”
The hosts kept the lead until Malcolm Wilson-Tolliver hit a jumper to knot things at 29-29 with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
Baskets by Timaury Gay and Carroll gave Notre Dame the lead for good, 35-30, with 2:35 to go in the third. The Green Knights then pushed the lead to 43-35 just 45 seconds into the fourth quarter on a basket by Robbie Oliverio.
Menard and Hunter then hit treys to close it to 43-41 before Notre Dame went on its 13-6 run to end the game.
Xavier fell to 1-1 with the loss.
Notre Dame-West Haven 56, Xavier 47
Xavier (1-1) |
13 |
8 |
14 |
12 |
— |
47 |
Notre Dame-West Haven (4-0) |
12 |
12 |
16 |
16 |
— |
56 |
