Cole Certa’s career-high 37 lift Notre Dame over Georgia Tech
Sophomore guard Cole Certa set career highs with 37 points and seven 3-pointers on Saturday to help Notre Dame breeze past Georgia Tech for an 89-74 Atlantic Coast Conference victory in South Bend, Ind.
Braeden Shrewsberry added 20 points while Logan Imes had 14 points and nine rebounds for Notre Dame (12-14, 3-10 ACC), which snapped a five-game losing streak. Carson Towt finished with eight points and nine rebounds for the Fighting Irish, who played without star freshman Jalen Haralson (15.5 points per game) due to a sprained ankle.
Kowacie Reeves Jr. scored 16 points to lead Georgia Tech (11-15, 2-11), which dropped its seventh straight game. Baye Ndongo posted 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds while Jaeden Mustaf chipped in 14 points and Akai Fleming scored 13.
After building a 12-point halftime lead, Notre Dame pushed the margin to 18 with 15:53 to play as Towt's layup stamped an 8-0 run. The Fighting Irish took their first 20-point lead on Certa's layup with 13:06 left.
Georgia Tech got its deficit down to 15 on a Mustaf free throw, but Imes' 3-pointer began a 9-0 spurt to push the lead to 68-44. Fleming's 3-pointer stopped the bleeding and ended a 4:57 scoreless drought for the Yellow Jackets.
After Fleming made a pair of foul shots to narrow the deficit to 20, Certa's 3-pointer and subsequent layup gave the Fighting Irish a 78-53 advantage. Georgia Tech finished the game on a 21-11 run in the lopsided affair.
Reeves scored the game's first basket to give Georgia Tech its only lead. Shrewsberry hit a 3-pointer to hand Notre Dame a 16-10 lead before six straight Yellow Jackets points knotted the score with 11 minutes left in the first half.
Certa drilled consecutive triples to give the Fighting Irish a 29-20 edge with 7:13 remaining. Notre Dame grabbed a 12-point lead on Towt's layup.
Certa's hot shooting continued when he drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the half to give Notre Dame a 45-33 halftime lead. Certa scored 21 first-half points while Shrewsberry had 14 for the Fighting Irish, who connected on 11 of 19 3-point tries before halftime. Reeves' 14 first-half points paced Georgia Tech.