Notre Dame pulls away in second half to beat UND 75-58

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The UND men's basketball team hung around early in the second half Tuesday night against Notre Dame before the Fighting Irish pulled away. Notre Dame's Markus Burton scored 29 points on 13-for-20 shooting to lead the Irish to a 75-58 victory over the Fighting Hawks in Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center.

ADVERTISEMENT Eli King's tip-in with 19 minutes, 37 seconds left in the second half trimmed the Notre Dame lead to 38-33. King scored again in the paint moments later to make it 40-35 with 18:39 left. The Irish responded with an 8-0 run and UND couldn't get the lead under single digits the rest of the way.



Treysen Eaglestaff led UND with 13 points thanks to 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range, while Mier Panoam scored 11 points (all in the first half) and Dariyus Woodson had 11 on 3-for-7 shooting from 3-point range. Amar Kuljuhovic added nine points and King had six. The Hawks' shooters didn't shoot great percentages, with Eaglestaff 5-for-13 from the floor, Panoam 3-for-11 and King 3-for-11.

The Hawks outrebounded Notre Dame 38-36, led by nine boards from King and eight from Panoam. But UND turned the ball over 15 times to Notre Dame's seven. Eaglestaff had six turnovers.

ADVERTISEMENT The Hawks were also outscored 46-24 in points in the paint. First-year big man George Natsvishvili played 14 minutes and had five points, including a 3-pointer. Veteran post Brian Mathews added three points in 17 minutes.

UND led for the game's first four minutes when Reggie Thomas hit Eaglestaff for a jumper for a 7-6 lead. A 3-pointer from Eaglestaff with 58 seconds left in the first half cut the Irish lead to 34-31. Notre Dame, though, scored the final four points of the half to take a 38-31 lead to halftime.

UND will now start the Cancun Challenge. The Hawks play Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles at 9 p.m.

Friday before heading to Mexico to face Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 26 at 2 p.m.

and an opponent to be determined on Nov. 27. Notre Dame, off a 21-point road win at Georgetown, improved to 4-0.

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