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Kebba Njie put-back lifts Notre Dame over Boston College in double overtime

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•about 10 hours•

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Notre Dame forward Kebba Njie. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

For a minute, it looked like Wednesday night’s late game against Boston College would bring more of the same for Notre Dame men’s basketball.

The Irish led by 3 with 1:22 left in double overtime and appeared to get a key stop after sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry forced a jump ball. Replay review, however, showed that senior guard Julian Roper II made an overly aggressive beeline into the scrum and his knee made contact with Eagles guard Donald Hand Jr.’s groin area.

As is standard procedure for fouls occurring in that region of the body, Roper was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game. It also gave Boston College two free throws and the ball, which it turned into a 4-point possession and a 1-point lead.

No one could blame Notre Dame fans for thinking, “Here we go again” after the Irish had just lost three consecutive games to bad teams (of which Boston College is one) in horrific fashion. When sophomore guard Markus Burton was stuffed at the rim with just over 17 seconds left, it looked like all hope was lost.

But there was junior forward Kebba Njie to clean up the rebound and put it back in, giving Notre Dame the lead for good. The Irish beat Boston College 97-94 in double overtime, halting their losing streak and improving to 11-13 (5-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) this season.

Njie, benched for graduate student forward Nikita Konstantynovskyi for the first time this season, finished with 7 points and 12 rebounds, including 6 on the offensive glass.

“He made some huge plays, man, when it was needed and when he could have just pouted when he wasn’t starting,” Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry said.

Notre Dame is now 4-10 in single-digit games, and for a while, it looked like it would remain 3-10. Boston College appeared to run away with this game, building a 14-point lead in the second half. Improbably, the Irish made a comeback and sent the game into a third and later a fourth period.

“I told them in the locker room, I said, ‘Man, the world is trying to tear us apart right now,'” Shrewsberry said. “They want us to point fingers at each other. They want us to blame each other. They want us to separate. But we’re not gonna do it. We’re gonna stick together. We’re gonna fight, and different guys stepped up. Different guys made huge plays.”

As always, it was Burton who provided the most scoring. He finished with a career-high 32 points, bringing his season average to an ACC-leading 21.3. Junior forward Tae Davis had 20, while Braeden Shrewsberry broke out of his slump with 16.

Notre Dame’s win, if nothing else, all but ensures it will make the ACC tournament. The bottom-three teams are cut out, and the Irish are three games ahead of Boston College, NC State and Miami with seven games to play.

The Irish are back in action Sunday evening against Louisville, who is tied for the No. 2 spot in the league standings.

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