VJ Beachem (3) sunk 16 points Wednesday as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish steam rolled Seattle U, 92-49. Stephanie Sokol/The Pit
While it was another slow start, the Fighting Irish continue to roll as the season heats up as six players earned double-digits in points to roll over Seattle University, 92-49.
Combining for 32 points, VJ Beachem and Bonzie Colson led all scorers as Notre Dame (2-0) win game no. 2 on the season. Joining them in high scoring was Steve Vasturia (13 points), Matt Farrell (13), Rex Plfueger (12) and TJ Gibbs (11).
“We got off to a great start defensively just like the other night (Saturday) and we were able to carry it through for the entire game,” Beachem said after the game.
The Irish defense came out of the gate hungry, while offensively they struggled to sink a bucket until 2:12 into the first half when Colson hit a jumper to tie the game at 2-2. Seattle’s Aaron Menzies sank the first bucket of the game just 16 seconds earlier.
Seattle (0-2) retook the lead briefly a few moments later when William Powell took a trip to the charity stripe, but a dunk by Martinas Gebben to tie the game at 4-4 was all it took to shift momentum in favor of the Irish.
Notre Dame went on a 17-2 run over five minutes to take full control of the game. During the time, Gibbs managed to steal the ball away from the Seattle defender, tossed it down court to Beachem who proceeded to slam the ball home with a beautiful one-handed dunk.
“It was great to see us shoot the ball the way we did tonight. It’ll be great for us throughout the season,” Beachem said.
The Irish shot just shy of 50-percent, sinking 32-of-65 shots. Seattle, playing in a zone defense, left Notre Dame open to put up 34 three-point shots, of which the Irish sank 15.
“I don’t think we are as reliant on the ball screen as we have been in the past,” Beachem said. “I think that’s why we’re getting a lot more open jump shots; just off-swinging and cutting through compared to driving and kicking, even though we were able to get into the gaps of the zone.”
Head Coach Mike Brey talked about Seattle’s zone defense, calling it a good test.
“It’s a little bit of a mental task of being patient, making good decisions and past faking,” he said. “We shot it great but passed it even better than we shot.”
Notre Dame has one more home game – Friday against Loyola Maryland at 7 PM EST – before heading to Brooklyn to face Colorado Monday at the Barclay’s Center.
