Tae Davis, Notre Dame escape halftime gap, beat Buffalo

Tae Davis scored a career-best 27 points as host Notre Dame survived a sluggish first half and fended off a late comeback attempt in an 86-77 victory over Buffalo on Monday in South Bend, Ind.

Playing only 26 minutes because of early foul trouble, Davis made 7 of 13 shots and punctuated his big game with a one-handed dunk off a feed from Matt Allocco that gave the Fighting Irish (2-0) an 80-69 lead with 2:23 remaining.

Davis scored his final basket on a layup with 80 seconds left that made it 82-72. He iced the win by hitting four free throws in the final 28 seconds to cap a night when went 12-for-13 from the line.

Notre Dame’s Markus Burton amassed 19 points, a career-high nine rebounds and a career-best-tying eight assists. Braeden Shrewsberry put up 13 of his 19 points in the second half, which began with a 24-2 Notre Dame run to turn a 40-38 deficit into a 62-42 lead with about 13 1/2 minutes remaining.

Kebba Njie added 12 points for the Fighting Irish, who shot 50.8 percent.

Buffalo stormed back as Notre Dame missed seven straight shots, allowing the Bulls to slice the deficit to 67-60 on a layup by Bryan Wilson with 7:22 left. Consecutive hoops by Burton and a three-point play by Davis helped Notre Dame regain control and take a 74-64 lead with 5:08 remaining.

Ryan Sabol led the Buffalo (2-1) with 18 points, Wilson added 15 and Ben Michaels contributed 14 for the Bulls, who shot 42.9 percent from the floor. Frederiks Meinarts added 10 points.

Davis scored Notre Dame’s first eight points before consecutive baskets by Burton capped a 9-0 run for a 14-8 lead with 14:42 left in the first half. Buffalo hung around and ripped off nine straight points in 88 seconds for a 21-20 lead on a 3-pointer by Sabol.

Buffalo took a 37-30 lead on Sabol’s free throw with 2:23 left before the break. After Notre Dame scored eight straight points, Sabol’s fourth trey of the half sent the Bulls into halftime with a 40-38 lead.

–Field Level Media