Notre Dame beats CUH on eventful Maui Monday

The 34th Maui Jim Maui Invitational kicked off on Monday with 4 games. The 4pm game which was broadcasted on ESPNU featured host school Chaminade which was hoping to pull off a major upset against the 14th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This was the second time in program history the two schools met, the first being in 1993 where the Irish defeated Chaminade 94-78. Nearly 25 years later Notre Dame defeated the Swords 83-56 bringing the Swords record to 2-1.

After winning the opening tip, Notre Dame seemed to be in control. The first shot of the game was a 3 point jumper hit by senior point guard Matt Farrell coming off an assist by Martinas Geben. This was just the start for Farrell who finished the game with 27 points and 4 assist, 12 of which came off 3 pointers.

“If you’ve got an open shot take it. We have fun playing with each other and hopefully we keep shooting well,” said Farrell.

Notre Dames All-American forward Bonzie Colson added by using his 6-6 224 pound frame to bully his way to 23 points on 8-11 shooting against the smaller Chaminade team. For the night the Irish shot an impressive 53.8 percent from the field.

Head Coach for Notre Dame Mike Brey was very impressed with the teams ability to make shots but was even more excited about his teams defensive presence.

“Im thrilled with our start, this team has wanted to have a defensive identity and we held them to around 35% shooting against a very good team in Chaminade,” said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey..

“Through stretches we played really well. Transition defense wasn’t really good tonight but overall we competed through stretches.There a very good team,” said Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird speaking about Notre Dame.

For a Chaminade team that had only played two games up until tonight, 6-10 forward Erik Scheive looked impressive finishing the game with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Chaminade will play again tomorrow at 3pm against Michigan. Coach Bovaird used to coach clinics in West Virginia with Michigans head coach John Belien and is familiar with his coaching style. After spending all week prepping for Notre Dame he hopes that this will help his team get ready for the next challenge.

“You have less than 24 hours to prepare. There going to bounce back and at least we have the 3 o’clock game to prepare,” said Boivard speaking on how to motivate the Swords team after todays loss.

Michigan who will be Chaminade’s next opponent played an exciting game today against LSU. The Wolverines lost 77 to 75 in a game that came down to the last second and ended on a missed buzzer beater opportunity. In the loss, Michigan guard Charles Matthews finished with 28 points and forward Mortitz Wagner added 24 in front of a sea of Michigan fans in attendance.

It was an exciting Maui Monday where experience and poise seemed to lead teams to victory. With two days left in the tournament there is still time for Chaminade to bounce back and come away with a win while on Maui and it starts tomorrow at 3p.m.