Irish get a controversial loss against Cal, 72-71

A double reversal of a four point play by Cal to tie up the game against Notre Dame with a few seconds left in the game, had Micah Shrewsberry erupting like a volcano once the game was finally over. The official result will read; Cal 72, Notre Dame 71 — but perhaps a referee count should be in there as well.

Irish Finish 1-1 in California Swing With 71-72 Loss against Cal Golden Bears

Braeden Shrewsberry led the Irish with 21 points 

BERKELEY, Calif. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-5, 1-1) suffered their first ACC loss of the season on the road on Friday night, falling to the Cal Golden Bears (13-2, 1-1) in a heartbreaking 71-72 defeat. The Irish built a 12-point lead in the first half and led by four at the halfway point. They later trailed by as much as seven with seven minutes remaining but stormed back to claim a four-point lead with 16-seconds left. Yet, Dai Dai Ames hit two three-pointers in that final 16-second timeframe, which included a called foul that resulted in a four-point play resulted in Cal escaping with the 71-72 victory. 

Junior Braeden Shrewsberry finished with a team-best 21 points on 5-12 shooting from three and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. He was 4-9 from beyond the arc in the second half, where he scored 16 of his points. 

Freshman Jalen Haralson finished with 17 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor, as he also chipped in 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block. It marked his 13th straight game in double figures. He was followed by Cole Certa with 16 points on 3-7 shooting from three and 5-7 from the charity stripe. 11 of Certa’s points were in the second half. 

No surprise here as Carson Towt led all players with 15 rebounds on the night, also contributing 8 points and 2 assists. 

Notre Dame won the rebounding war, outrebounding Cal by 10 in a 44-34 battle. The Irish finished the night shooting 22-55 (40%) from the floor and 11-31 (35.5%) from three. Defensively, Notre Dame held Cal to 26-64 (40.6%) from the floor and 11-39 (28.2%) from behind the arc, which is 10% under their average this season. The Irish did hurt themselves at the free-throw line, where they went 16-26 (.615).

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jalen Haralson started the game on fire, making his first four shots, scoring the first 10 points for the Irish. In those four makes were also his first two three-pointers of the season. Braeden Shrewsberry shortly followed with a triple for an 11-2 run to make it 13-7 Irish at the first media timeout at 14:11. 

Next, freshman Brady Koehler subbed in and scored five straight for the Irish to make it 18-9, as ND started 7-11 from the field overall. 

Defensively, the Irish held the Golden Bears to an almost three-minute scoring drought as Cal scored just their fourth field goal of the night at 11:16 to cut it to seven at 18-11. 

Back on the offensive end, it was Cole Certa’s turn for a personal 5-0 run which made it 23-13. Soon after, Mark Zackery IV scored his first college basket with a reverse layup to put the Irish up 12 with 8:36 left in the half. 

A Cal 7-0 run over three minutes pulled it within five, but a great pass from Imes found Towt alone under the basket for the slam to end the drought. 

Notre Dame, who started the game a hot 10-16 from the field then went cold, going 2-14 for the remainder of the half. The Irish also started 0-5 from the free-throw line and was 2-8 at halftime. 

As a result, Cal eventually turned a 12-point deficit to a four-point one at the half, cutting the Irish lead to 31-27. Despite the Golden Bears’ buzzer beating three, their 27 points marked a first half season low. 

Defensively, the Irish kept the Golden Bears in check for the first half, limiting them to 3-17 from three and 9-28 (.321) overall from the field. Notre Dame only coughed it up one time. Jalen Haralson was the lone player of either squad in double digits at the half with 10 points. 

California recorded a 5-1 start to tie the game at 32-all. Then a Shrewsberry three followed by a Haralson dime to Towt made it 39-37 at 16:13. 

Tied at 39-all, Shrewsberry drained his third triple of the night to put the Irish back in front. It was followed with a 7-0 Cal run, capping a 5-6 shooting stretch, giving the Golden Bears their second lead of the night at 46-42. 

Cal, who was held in check from beyond the arc in the first, started the second half 6-13 from three. Braeden Shrewsberry did his best to counterattack the air raid, as he started the second half 4-5 from beyond the arc. All-in-all, it resulted in Notre Dame trailing 52-57 with 7:39 remaining. 

Right after, the Golden Bears built their largest lead of the game up seven (52-59); however, around this time the Irish got into the bonus and began chipping away from the free-throw line. Fast forward to 4:21 remaining and Certa drained a huge three-pointer to get Notre Dame within one at 62-63. 

Certa then delivered again, this time from the corner at 3:10 to push the Irish in front 65-63. On the defensive end, the Irish held the Golden Bears to an 0-6 stretch and scoreless for over four minutes. 

It was an 8-0 run for the Irish as a Haralson free throw kept it at a one-possession game at 66-63 with 45 seconds left. Cal had two opportunities from deep to tie it up, but an Irish rebound put the ball back in Certa’s hands as the Golden Bears sent him to the line with 29 seconds remaining. 

Certa’s made free throw put the Irish up four, but Cal responded with a quick layup to make it 67-65 with 19 seconds on the clock. 

Shrewsberry was sent to the free throw line on the inbounds pass, where he knocked down both to make it a two-possession game yet again. With 11 seconds left, Cal answered with one from behind the arc to cut it to one at 69-68. 

Another set of Shrewsberry free throws made it a three-point game, but Cal was able to hit another trey along with getting the foul call in the process for the four-point play opportunity. While the foul call was initially reversed, officials reversed the reversal to send Cal to the line for a shooting foul. 

Hitting the free throw to take the lead, Cal had the 72-71 advantage with just five seconds remaining. The Irish had one last chance to regain the lead, but the final shot would fall short in a heartbreaking loss on the road.

UP NEXT

Notre Dame will get a week off from competition to get back in a routine in South Bend. Then, the Irish will host Clemson inside Purcell Pavilion on January 10, at 6 p.m. ET.