Scott, Abromaitis lead No. 23 Irish past Gonzaga
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Carleton Scott scored a career-high 23 points, Tim Abromaitis added 21 and Ben Hansbrough hit four free throws in final 12 seconds Saturday night as Notre Dame held on to beat Gonzaga 83-79.
The Irish (9-1), coming off a loss to Kentucky, got eight straight points from Abromaitis to break a tie early in the second half and staved off a late rally before a boisterous home crowd.
Gonzaga (4-5) lost to a Top 25 team for the fourth time this season. The Bulldogs have struggled to defend the 3-pointer and did so again as Notre Dame hit 11 of 20 from beyond the arc.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Elias Harris scored 19 and Steve Gray had 18 for the Bulldogs.
Notre Dame, which missed 12-of-36 free throw attempts, led by 13 in the second half and was up by 10 with 1:18 to go.
But after Harris hit two free throws, Gonzaga's press forced a turnover and Gray hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night to cut the lead to 75-70 with a minute left.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And after Notre Dame's Eric Atkins missed two from the line, Harris scored from inside to make it a three-point game. Scott then made 1 of 2 from the line with 32.8 seconds left, putting the Irish up four.
After Gray missed a 3-point attempt, Atkins came up with a loose ball, was fouled with 19.9 seconds left. He missed the first and sank the second for a five-point lead.
Gonzaga's Mangisto Arop made a 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining to slice it to 79-77. Hansbrough then sank four free throws — the final two with about 3 seconds left — as Notre Dame held on.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Scott scored 19 points in the first half — two more than his previous high for an entire game — and Notre Dame led 43-37.
But Gonzaga got a dunk from Robert Sacre and a steal from Marquise Carter that led to a basket on a goaltending call, tying the game at 50-50 five minutes into the second half.
Abromaitis then foiled the Bulldogs' zone defense by sinking back-to-back 3-pointers — his third and fourth of the game. And after a Gonzaga turnover, he got loose on the baseline, took a nice pass from Tyrone Nash and dunked to put the Irish up by eight.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Minutes later, he hit a pair of free throws and then after a nice fake canned a jumper as Notre Dame's lead went to 11 with under nine minutes remaining.