Notre Dame rally in fourth quarter for a win over South Harrison, 65-64

South Harrison increased the lead to its biggest of the game, a 12-point, 59-47 with 5:34 remaining on a Joseph Fenstermacher turnaround jumper.

However, the Fighting Irish (6-6) did not go away and went on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to two, 59-57 on a Jovanni Minnocci trey from the top of the circle with 2:32 to play.

The Hawks still held their two-point lead, 63-61 with 1:08 to play when Brayden Helmick came up with a big blocked shot and Minnocci tied the game by making two free throws with 1:00 left in the game.

Jerimiah Kreiling for SH and Minnocci each made 1-of-2 free throws to keep the game tied 64-64.

The Hawks had the final possession of the game and a missed shot turned out to be disasterous because Minnocci was fouled after getting the rebound with 2.3 seconds to play.

Minnocci made the first free throw and missed the second leaving Notre Dame up one, 65-64. After a SH timeout, the Hawks last second shot was no good and the Irish escaped with the win.

“This was a gritty and good win for us,” Notre Dame coach Jarrod West said. “We needed this one because we went 1-3 in four road games last week, played South Harrison in one of those games and Jovanni (Minnocci) and Dominico (Minnocci) gives us a chance when they are making shots.

“Brayden (Helmick) does not get enough credit for his strong inside play and he came up big for us several times. This could be a big win that propels this team going forward the rest of the season.”

Notre Dame had three players in double figures led by the excellent shooting of Dominico Minnocci who made seven 3-pointers for 21 points. Helmick posted a double-double with 17 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, while Jovanni Minnocci finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

South Harrison had a hard-time finishing the game against Notre Dame as with three freshmen on the floor, it is something they can learn from down the road.

“It is our MO as a team that we make too many mistakes and bad decisions with the basketball and we are going to use this as a valuable learning lesson,” South Harrison coach Scott Wallace said. “It is difficult to get younger kids to learn not only how they get the lead, but how to play with one and that will only come with experience.”

The Hawks had a balanced-scoring attack with four players in double figures and five players with at least nine points.

Kreiling led the way with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Cooper Sanders followed with 13 points and also with three treys to go along with four assists. Graham Saas had 11 points and four assists, while Adam Marple had a huge game with 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Belcastro netted nine points for SH.

The first half was an excellent display of basketball by both teams with SH holding a 18-16 first-quarter lead and the Irish came back in the second quarter to tie the game, 36 apiece at halftime.

One area where both teams excelled was from behind the 3-point arc where South Harrison made 11-of-19, while Notre Dame canned nine-of-24.