Mastodons Upset Notre Dame in South Bend

South Bend, Indiana – The Mastodons and the Irish matched up for the second straight season, except this time in South Bend, and this time in a game that counts towards the regular season records. Unfortunately for the Irish, they can’t go back in time and opt out of this game. In front of a lively crowd full of Mastodon and Irish faithful alike, the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (8-6, 2-1 Horizon League) used a four-pronged attack to take down in-state opponent Notre Dame (9-4, 0-0 ACC) on Sunday afternoon, by a score of 72-69.

Notre Dame recorded the first two baskets on the game with layups by Carson Towt and Garrett Sundra, and would lead for 1:56 until Purdue Fort Wayne’s Corey Hadnot scored a layup and three-pointer to take a 5-4 lead on his own. The Irish wouldn’t lead for the rest of the half. Mikale Stevenson got in the scoring column with a driving layup and then hit his first of three triples on the night to put the ‘Dons in double digits.

It took nearly 12 minutes of gameplay before someone on the Purdue Fort Wayne team not named Stevenson or Hadnot got into the scoring column. It happened at the 12:56 mark in the first half, when DeAndre Craig Jr. got in the scorer’s book with a driving layup. Craig would later hit a floater, with a foul called on Notre Dame’s Cole Certa to convert the old fashioned three-point play.

Earlier this week, Hadnot was named to the Lou Henson Award Watch List, an honor given to the best mid-major player in America. After Craig’s five quick points, Hadnot rattled off seven straight points in the game to put the ‘Dons up by 11. A 24-foot shot forced Notre Dame’s head coach Micah Shrewsberry to call a timeout to regather his team, and attempt to get back into the game before it got too ugly. The timeout seemingly proved to be the right call, as the Irish clawed their way back into the game over the remaining 4:27 in the half. The Mastodons would be held scoreless during this time, while the Irish whittled down the deficit to three at the buzzer.

The first half was a defensive slugfest, but clean in terms of fouls. Neither team shot exceptionally well, with PFW going 11-of-31 and ND going 10-of-31 from the floor in the first half. Purdue Fort Wayne made their only free throw attempt on the Craig and-one, and the Irish went a perfect 2-of-2 as well from the stripe in the first half.

Though there was plenty of time left in the game, the Irish needed to come out strong in the second half to extinguish any flames of a Mastodon upset. Logan Imes scored a layup on the first possession of the second half for the Irish to bring the deficit within one, but Max Nelson would respond for PFW with his first three-pointer and basket of the game to give the ‘Dons a slight four point cushion. The cushion wouldn’t be enough, as Jalen Haralson and Imes would get baskets on back-to-back possessions to give the Irish a 31-30 lead. This would be the first lead for the Irish since early in the first half, and thanks to yet another Nelson three, it would be the last lead for the Irish in the game. Nelson has attempted 89 shots on the season, with 82 of those attempts coming from three-point land.

The teams would go back and forth trading baskets and stops, but the Irish could never seem to string enough together to matter. On many occasions, Notre Dame would get the game within a possession, but the Mastodons would do just enough to keep them at bay. The Irish would eventually tie the game up at 41-41 on a Brady Koehler three, but Stevenson would hit a floater from about nine feet out and follow it up with a 25-foot step back three to pull ahead 46-41.

Down the stretch, the Mastodons made the free throws count. Finishing the game 13-of-17 as a team from the charity stripe, the Mastodons didn’t let the pressure of the moment get to them as the Irish had to resort to fouling down the stretch to get the ball back. The theory appeared to be working, as the Irish were able to keep the game close enough for Braeden Shrewsberry to nail a three pointer on the left wing to bring the game to 69-70 in favor of the Mastodons.

In the following timeout, Jon Coffman drew up an out of bounds set that had Nelson flash to the open area of the court to receive the ball and get fouled. Nelson hit both of his free throws to go back up by three points with four seconds remaining in the game. A teachable moment followed, as Imes inbounded the ball to Notre Dame’s leading scorer, Haralson, who drove on his defender and pulled up from about 16 feet. Though the ball drilled iron and bounced away as the buzzer sounded, the shot didn’t even give the Irish a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime. The Mastodon bench rushed the court and celebrated their first program victory over their ACC in-state opponents to the north.

Hadnot led all scorers with 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Hadnot also led the Mastodons in rebounding with six. Only four players scored for the Mastodons with Stevenson, Craig, and Nelson ending with 18, 14, and 11 respectively. Uncharacteristically for a Coffman-led team, no players off the bench recorded a single point. Some of that may be due to the fact that Hadnot was Coffman’s go-to sixth man for the previous two seasons. After the game, Coffman gave his props to Hadnot for being a “dude” and stepping up when it mattered. Coffman praised Hadnot’s ability to make a play and get a basket when most needed while staying poised and a good teammate, passing up a good look for a great look.

For the Irish, Haralson led the team with 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting and 9-of-11 from the stripe down the later stretch of the game. Haralson was helped out by Braeden Shrewsberry and Imes pitching in with 13 and 12, respectively. Haralson nearly recorded a double-double in the loss, but fell one rebound shy. Towt recorded a game-high 10 rebounds for the Irish.

This is the fourth win in program history against a high major opponent. The ‘Dons took down Indiana in back-to-back seasons in 2016 and 2017 in a “home and home” series with the Hoosiers, and then Purdue Fort Wayne traveled to Chicago to beat Big East’s DePaul in 2023.

Purdue Fort Wayne gets a week off to recoup and regather heading back into the Horizon League gauntlet. On Monday, December 29, the Mastodons will head back on the road to face off against preseason favorites Milwaukee. Road games have not been kind to the Mastodons up until this point. The win over Notre Dame was the Mastodons’ first road win of the season. However, history has been kind to the Mastodons against the Panthers. PFW leads the all time series 7-4, and they won both matchups last year. So far on the year, the Mastodons and the Panthers only share one common opponent, and it wasn’t even a Horizon League team. On November 9, Milwaukee took care of Dominican (Ill.) winning 125-70. On November 20, Purdue Fort Wayne set a school record in scoring when taking down Dominican by a score of 137-56. The matchup in Milwaukee is set to tip off at 8:00 pm ET on ESPN+.