With West Virginia’s Jarmon Durisseau-Collins flying in his face, Notre Dame’s Colin Falls, positioned along the left baseline, took the pass from teammate Chris Quinn, squared up and fired.
The swish of Falls’ three-pointer with about 15 seconds left held up to give the Irish a 65-64 victory over the Mountaineers (15-13) in the opening round of the Big East tournament Wednesday night.
“Early in the season, I missed a game-tying shot against Indiana,” the freshman from Loyola Academy said. “[Coach Mike Brey] told me not to worry about it. He has full confidence in me to shoot the ball.”
After Falls’ dramatic shot, Torrian Jones prevented Joe Herber from getting a good look on a potential buzzer-beater to assure the victory. The Irish (17-11) face ninth-ranked Connecticut in the second round Thursday.
The victory was a lungful of air for a team that was watching its NCAA tournament hopes slowly suffocated by the Mountaineers.
“We’ve been read our last rites at least three or four times this season,” Brey said. “And we continually stay alive.”
Brey said he believes a victory over Connecticut would be enough to push the Irish into the NCAA tournament.
While the Huskies (24-6), are formidable opponents, they are not unbeatable. Notre Dame split two games with Connecticut this season, and the Irish may be taking on a depleted squad because center Emeka Okafor, the Big East player of the year, is suffering from back spasms and is questionable for the game.
Okafor sought a second opinion Wednesday on his back. If he is cleared to play, the decision to participate could be left up to Okafor.
“We fully expect [Okafor] to play,” Brey said. “We’re going to prepare like he will play.”
Well into the second half Wednesday night, Notre Dame was hurtling toward a rematch with the Huskies.
With 12:31 left on the clock, the Irish seemed to have the contest sewn up, enjoying a 16-point advantage.
After a 9-0 Mountaineers run, Notre Dame point guard Chris Thomas, whistled for his fourth foul, was planted on the Irish bench.
Thomas finished with a game-high 19 points, but Falls proved to be Notre Dame’s hero.
Subbing for Thomas, Falls connected on his only other bucket of the night on the next possession. His NBA-length three-pointer from the right wing increased Note Dame’s lead to 56-46.
West Virginia was led by Herber (17 points), whose game-ending miss was only his third of the night. Sophomore forward Kevin Pittsnogle added 13.
Patrick Beilein, son of Mountaineers coach John Beilein, made perhaps the two most dramatic shots of the night, back-to-back three-pointers that tied the game.
Less than a minute later, with just 1:43 left to play, Herber’s layup gave West Virginia its first lead, 62-60, since early in the first half.
“Had some tough breaks early. Couldn’t find the basket,” John Beilein said. “Then, all of a sudden, we started finding the basket. This was one that we would have liked to finish and couldn’t quite get.”
In the afternoon session, Georgetown fell to Boston College 68-57 and Virginia Tech edged Rutgers 61-58. The Scarlet Knights were up by eight at halftime but suffered through terrible shooting in the second half. Villanova closed out the opening round, beating Seton Hall 61-60.
Boston College will play Syracuse on Thursday, Virginia Tech will play Pittsburgh and Villanova will play Providence.
