Freshman guard Chris Quinn sat outside the Notre Dame locker room, a half-eaten cookie in his right hand, as he answered a question about scoring 10 points in 12 minutes off the bench Saturday.
“That’s part of my role this year and it’s been an adjustment because in high school you’re used to playing the whole game and getting into a rhythm,” Quinn said.
And as he talked, Jordan Cornette lifted Quinn’s hand and took a bite of the cookie.
Would Cornette have been allowed to get away with it if he hadn’t had such a stellar game?
“No,” Quinn said, laughing.
But Cornette and the Irish (16-3 overall, 4-1 Big East) earned their desserts for surviving an intense Boston College team and coming away with a 101-96 overtime victory.
Early on, the contest looked to be a runaway, with the Irish shooting 15-of-29 from the field and 11-of-11 from the foul line in taking a 47-37 halftime lead.
But against Boston College (8-8, 1-4), which revels in defeating Notre Dame, a 10-point lead is hardly enough.
The Eagles came out for the second half fired up defensively and rejuvenated offensively, and they went on an 11-0 run to grab a 48-47 lead.
Point guard Troy Bell fueled Boston College’s comeback and finished with a game-high 31 points after scoring just nine in the first half.
But if Bell was good, his Irish counterpart, Chris Thomas, was superb in tallying 28 points.
In the first half Thomas scored only three points. In the second, with his team struggling to stay with the revivified Eagles, Thomas shifted into a higher gear, scoring 18 points and helping the Irish tie it 82-82 at the end of regulation.
In the five-minute overtime, Thomas added seven points, including 5-of-6 from the free-throw line, as the Irish pulled away.
“In the first half there was no need for me to try to score,” Thomas said. “Twenty-five in the second half and overtime, that’s maybe a little bit much for me, but it’s what we needed.”
Thomas is “so good that he can do what he wants to do when he wants to do it,” guard Matt Carroll said.
Carroll could have been talking about himself.
Just over five minutes into the first half, Carroll was fouled by Boston College’s Ryan Sidney as he drove the lane and crashed to the floor. Carroll eventually returned and finished with 18 points and six rebounds in 42 minutes despite a baseball-sized bruise on his right elbow.
Carroll secured the victory halfway through overtime when he not only connected on a three-pointer from the right wing but drew a foul as well. He converted the free throw to put the Irish up by five. Boston College got no closer than four the rest of the way.
Dan Miller contributed 16 points for the Irish, and Torin Francis added 15.
Cornette supplemented the scoring with three blocks and a team-high 11 rebounds.
“He played well,” Quinn said as Cornette chomped away on his chocolate chip.
“He deserves a bite of the cookie.”
