Irish are Tested But Rise to the Occasion

By: Ethan Hennessy

South Bend Indiana

Mike Brey opened up his press conference after beating Bellarmine 61-51 by saying: “They’re really good. That was a great test for us. I thought we needed a hard game before we open the season in Chappel Hill, and I watched ten minutes of tape on them on Wednesday and said we could be in trouble.” The Irish led the game for all but 55 seconds, but it was not smooth sailing as the knights had them sweating for most of the game usually trailing by only two or three possessions.

Bellarmine shooting free throws against Notre Dame. 

Bellarmine who is entering their last season of division two play before joining the Atlantic Sun and moving to division one had the Irish within striking distance all evening, but really had them on the ropes with three minutes left when they cut Notre Dame’s lead to three, 52-49. At that point Mike Brey put his starters back in the game. He said he ignored the trainer who had Rex Pflueger on a 15 minute restriction after tearing his ACL last season jokingly chuckling “we’ll give him off tomorrow”.

Notre Dame was led in scoring by Prentiss Hubb who had 18 points and 8 assists. John Mooney had a double double of 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Juwan Durham had nine points and 13 rebounds.  For Bellarmine the former Indiana State Sycamore Ethan Claycomb was their leading scorer chipping in 11 points and nine rebounds.

Next up for Bellarmine they host Northwood at Knight Hall in Louisville. Notre Dame opens their season with an ACC conference road game at #9 North Carolina on Wednesday November 6th in Chappel Hill NC.