Late Night Snack: St. Joseph’s knocks off Notre Dame in overtime

Games of the Day

1. St. Joseph’s 79, Notre Dame 70 (OT) - St. Joseph’s was not leaving with a loss, especially Langston Galloway had already lost his tooth after getting tangled up with Jerian Grant and landing face first into the Barclays Center floor. The Hawks forced overtime by holding the Irish offense in check. Notre Dame didn’t score for an eight minute stretch. In that time St. Joe’s took advantage, as Ronald Roberts scored the first seven points of the extra time to give the A-10 favorite an early key victory.

2. Murray State 72, St. John’s 67 - The Racers overcame two deficits to earn a hard-fought victory and a spot in the Charleston Classic final against Colorado. St. John’s couldn’t put away an experienced Murray State club. Senior Stacey Wilson connected on several key three-pointers, while Ed Daniel controlled the boards for the Racers.

3. Penn State 55, Providence 52 (OT) - The best game you didn’t see last night. Both teams struggled heading into halftime, with PC leading 16-14. Kadeem Batts knocked down a pair of free throws with 14 seconds remaining to tie the game a 43 to force overtime. The Friars took an early lead in overtime, but the Nittany Lions scored seven unanswered to take the lead for good.

Important Outcomes

1. Colorado 60, Baylor 58 - The Bears experienced the first loss of the season and now the question is how does Baylor respond? After 31 points against Boston College, Pierre Jackson was held to only a dozen. What makes the loss even more head scratching, is that Baylor lost to a team that shot 22 percent (4-18) from the free throw line.

2. St. Joseph’s 79, Notre Dame 70 (OT) - St. Joe’s was picked to win the A-10 and an early victory against No. 20 Notre Dame helps strength the Hawks case as one of the top teams in the country.

3. UConn 77, Wake Forest 71 - The Huskies are now 3-o in the Kevin Ollie era. Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright each had 16 points, but a huge effort game from sophomore center Enosch Wolf, who had 12 points and six boards. UConn will look for the fourth win of the season against Quinnipiac as part of the Paradise Jam at Saint Thomas on Sunday.

Starred

1. Trevor Releford and the rest of the Bama backcourt - Releford shot five three-pointers and made all five, on his way to a game-high 25 points. Rodney Cooper added 17 points for Bama in a 77-55 win over Villanova to win the 2K Classic. Trevor Lacey was plagued with foul trouble, but finished seven points. The tough Bama defense forced guards Ryan Arcidiacono (11 points) to 3-for-11 shooting and limited James Bell to three points off 1-of-7 shooting

2. Devon Collier, Oregon State - His return to New York City couldn’t have gone better. Although Oregon State lost to Alabama Thursday night, Collier had 21 points and seven rebounds. On Friday, the 6-foot-8 junior led the Beavers to a 66-58 win over Purdue with a 27 point 14 rebound performance.

3. Kentucky, everything Kentucky -Kyle Wiltjer made eight field goals, seven were three-pointers, for a game-high 23 points. Alex Poythress finished with 22 points. Archie Goodwin added 13 points and did this. Let’s remember this is Lafayette, but still fun to watch the highlights.

Struggled

1. Purdue - Matt Painter’s club is leaving New York with a pair of losses. A D.J. Byrd controversial flagrant foul helped lead Villanova over Purdue Thursday night. The Boilermakers were on the wrong end of Devon Collier’s monster double-double Friday night. Purdue (1-3) will try to get back in the win column against UNC-Wilmington on Wednesday.

2. Villanova - Villanova shot a dreadful 31 percent from the field and saw a three-point halftime deficit turn into a 22-point loss in the 2K Championship.

3. UMass - After being the most exciting team in college basketball with back-to-back buzzer beaters to open the season, UMass ran into a good N.C. State team. The Minutemen went up against a Wolfpack team with too many weapons. N.C. State shot 56 percent. UMass continued with turnover issues, coughing the ball up 17 times, like the previous two games against Providence and Harvard.

Three Facts

1. Shabazz Muhammad will make his debut Monday - Friday night UCLA freshman guard Shabazz Muhammad was cleared by the NCAA. He can play immediately, which means he will suit up Monday against Georgetown in Legends Classic in Brooklyn. UCLA could potentially play No. 1 Indiana that weekend as well.

2. Murray State doesn’t go away easily - The Racers looked as if they were entering halftime facing a double-digit deficit against St. John’s. Murray State put together a 13-3 run to cut the lead to three. Isaiah Canaan and company trailed by seven with seven minutes to play, put together a 12-0 run to take a lead they wouldn’t surrender in a 72-67 semifinal win over the Johnnies in the Charleston Classic. Senior leadership from Canaan, Stacey Wilson, and Ed Daniel puts Murray State in the final against Colorado.

3. Rick Majerus will not be on the sidelines anytime soon - It was announced earlier on Friday, that Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus will no longer serve as the basketball coach. Majerus is treating an ongoing heart condition. Majerus helped build the Billikens into an A-10 contender in his five seasons as head coach.

Other notable outcomes

- Stanford 71, Baylor 69 (women’s basketball)

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne