Colson, Vasturia Lead No. 23 Notre Dame Over IPFW, 87-72
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Bonzie Colson had his sixth straight double-double Tuesday night with 17 points and 14 rebounds, leading No. 23 Notre Dame to an 87-72 win over Fort Wayne.
Steve Vasturia scored 21 points for the Fighting Irish (9-0), off to their fastest start in coach Mike Brey's 17 seasons — and the school's best since opening 12-0 in 1973.
Fort Wayne native V.J. Beachem added 14 points, Matt Farrell had 12 and Colson hit a career-high three 3-pointers.
Mo Evans scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half to lead Fort Wayne (7-3), which had won six straight — including an overtime upset of then-No. 3 Indiana. John Konchar added a career-high 18 points to go with nine rebounds for the Mastodons.
Bryson Scott, who came in averaging 16.9 points and was shooting better than 62 percent from the floor over his last six games, missed all 10 of his field goal attempts and finished with two points.
After the Irish built a big second-half lead, IPFW used a 20-5 run to crawl back within nine points with 2:48 to go after Charles Ruise Jr.'s one-handed floater in the lane.
Four straight free throws by Farrell, including a pair following a technical foul on Fort Wayne coach John Coffman, helped seal it for Notre Dame.
Seldom-used reserve John Mooney's putback dunk with a second left gave the Irish a 41-23 lead at the break, the fewest points Notre Dame has allowed in the first half this season.
A 10-2 Irish run over the first 4 minutes of the second half pushed their lead to 27 points.
In a matchup of the nation's No. 10 scoring offense (Notre Dame at 89.1 points per game) and No. 11 scoring offense (Fort Wayne at 88.7 ppg), it was the Irish defense that gave the Mastodons fits early.
IPFW entered ninth in the country in field goal percentage, but started cold, hitting just four of its first 15 shots while the Irish built a 14-point lead 12 minutes into the game.
The Mastodons made only one of their first 14 tries from 3-point range, but shot 58 percent from the field in the second half to fuel their comeback.
BIG PICTURE
Fort Wayne: Was the win over Indiana on Nov. 22 just a fluke? After crashing back to reality against Notre Dame, the Mastodons will try to right the ship in their final three non-conference games before Summit League play starts.
Notre Dame: The Irish, the last undefeated team left in the ACC, did what the Hoosiers could not in putting away Fort Wayne. Now, Notre Dame heads into its big matchup against No. 1 Villanova with plenty of momentum.
UP NEXT
Fort Wayne: Before beginning a stretch of eight days between games, the Mastodons return home Saturday to face Austin Peay, a team they already beat once this season, 103-99 in Clarksville, Tenn.
Notre Dame: The Irish face their toughest stretch of the season to date, heading to Newark, New Jersey, to meet No. 1 Villanova on Saturday, followed by a matchup in Indianapolis with No. 18 Purdue a week later.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.