Jalen Haralson poured in 20 points and Carson Towt racked up 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting as Notre Dame finally pulled away for an 80-65 victory against Idaho on Wednesday night at South Bend, Ind.
Cole Certa chipped in with 13 of his 15 of his points in the second half and Braeden Shrewsberry notched 14 points for the Irish (8-3), who have won three games in a row. Towt pulled in 15 rebounds.
Haralson has scored in double figures in nine consecutive games.
Biko Johnson scored 19 points for Idaho (6-4), which had a two-game winning streak end. The Vandals shot 39.7% from the field, with Jackson Rasmussen adding 16 points and Brody Rowbury scoring 11.
The Fighting Irish, playing in the first of three consecutive home games prior to Christmas, were in their first game this season without Markus Burton, who sustained a left ankle injury on Friday. The point guard, who is averaging a team-best 18.5 points per game, was scheduled to undergo surgery.
The Irish shot 52.5% from the floor and were efficient from beyond the 3-point arc at 9-for-14, with four of those baskets by Shrewsberry and three others from Certa.
Certa, a sophomore making his first career start with Burton out, scored all of Notre Dame’s points in a 7-2 spurt that gave the Irish a 57-51 lead with 10:48 to play.
The Vandals had closed a 50-43 hole to 50-49 courtesy of 3-pointers from Trevon Blassingame and Kolton Mitchell.
After Certa’s burst, the Irish tacked on the next four points for a 61-51 edge — their largest advantage of the game at that point.
Idaho couldn’t fully recover from scoring only two points during a four-minute stretch, though the Vandals got within 61-54 before Shrewsberry responded with a 3-pointer.
Neither team scored in the final 1:46.
The score was tied at 33-33 at halftime, with Notre Dame’s earlier eight-point lead going away. The Irish committed seven first-half turnovers but only two in the second half.
