Markus Burton had a big night for Notre Dame, scoring 29 points to lead the Irish to a 75-58 win over visiting North Dakota on Tuesday night in South Bend, Ind.
Burton also pulled down nine rebounds for Notre Dame and J.R. Konieczny added 12 points for the Fighting Irish (4-0), who failed to score 80 or more for the first time this season.
Treysen Eaglestaff led the Fighting Hawks (2-2) with 13 points. Mier Panoam and Dariyus Woodson added 11 points apiece for North Dakota, which made only one of its last 10 attempts from the floor.
Notre Dame grabbed its first double-digit lead of the night when Julian Roper II made a move inside and got a shot up to give the Irish a 46-35 advantage with 16:56 to play.
Roper then came up with the ball on a hustle play, going to the floor to get possession and tossing it ahead to Burton, who cruised into the lane for an easy layup and 53-38 lead with 14:17 to go.
The Fighting Irish finished with nine steals and had an advantage with 17 points off turnovers, to 10 for the Fighting Hawks. North Dakota had more turnovers, 15-7.
Notre Dame dominated early in the first half, using a 6-0 run to go ahead 17-9 with 11:20 to play on Tae Davis’ layup.
North Dakota closed within 17-16 with 16:48 to play on three free throws by Panoam and Eaglestaff’s drive to the basket.
That seemed to be the trend most of the first half. Notre Dame started to pull away, but North Dakota answered. Panoam’s 3-pointer with 6:48 to go cut the Irish lead to 23-21.
Consecutive jumpers by Burton stretched the Irish advantage to 27-21 with 5:17 left. Less than a minute later, Burton buried a 3-pointer for a 30-23 lead.
Burton scored 16 first-half points and helped carry Notre Dame to a 38-31 lead at halftime.
The Irish shot a blistering 59 percent from the field in the opening half, fueled largely by Burton, who missed on only one of his eight attempts.
Notre Dame made six of its last eight attempts from the floor to close out the half with the lead.
–Field Level Media
