Notre Dame escapes Brooklyn with overtime win over Oklahoma State
It was fitting that Notre Dame drew Oklahoma State in the consolation game of the Legends Classic in Brooklyn. Both teams are at about the same level as far as turnover from last season. So it was only fitting that they went to overtime. But any Irish fan watching will tell you that it shouldn’t have gotten there despite a 66-64 win.
The Irish (2-2) had a 12-point lead in the second half, but a couple of scoring droughts allowed the Cowboys (1-3) to creep closer and closer. The lead had whittled down to one when Eric Dailey Jr. went to the free-throw line to potentially win it for the Cowboys. He instead split the free throws, and Markus Burton missed a buzzer-beater, necessitating the overtime.
The Irish trailed by as much as four in the extra session, but the game came down to free throws and defense. Both of those worked in the Irish’s favor.
Burton in particular was clutch at the line and was the leader in forcing the Cowboys to make mistakes on offense. Still, he missed one free throw in the final seconds of overtime that allowed John-Michael Wright to shoot a potential game-winning 3 at the buzzer that missed.
Burton fittingly led the Irish with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting. Julian Roper II had 12 points and eight rebounds, while J.R. Konieczny completed his second straight double-double of 11 points and 10 boards in his first career start.
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