SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Freshman J.J. Starling scored a season-high 22 points, Nate Laszewski added 17 and Notre Dame defeated Louisville 76-62 on Saturday despite seeing a 30-point second-half lead cut in half.
Starling made 7 of 8 shots and scored 16 points to lead Notre Dame to a 46-24 halftime advantage. A three-point play by Ryan Cormac capped an 8-0 run that gave Notre Dame a 30-point lead with 17:12 left.
The Fighting Irish, with three ACC losses in which they once led by double digits, saw their 30-point lead dwindle to 14 points when Louisville went on a 21-5 run. Kamari Lands had eight points and Mike James seven of the 21 points and the Cardinals scored the last 11 straight in closing the gap to 64-50 with 8:19 remaining.
The Cardinals never got closer than 14 points, the last time at 76-62 when Fabio Basili hit a 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining.
Ryan finished with 11 points and eight assists, and Dane Goodwin had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Notre Dame (10-12, 2-9 ACC) snapped a four-game losing streak.
James led Louisville (2-19, 0-10) with 14 points and Jae’Lyn Withers added 10. The Cardinals have lost 10 in a row after picking up their only two wins of the season in mid-December.
Louisville hosts Georgia Tech on Wednesday and Notre Dame also has a home game, against Wake Forest on Feb. 4.
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