Dec. 20--Bonzie Colson made a layup with a little less than three minutes remaining in Notre Dame's game against Indiana.
It turned out to be the last of his career-high 24 points, and the Irish's only basket in the final 6 minutes, 30 seconds Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Indiana scored 17 of the game's last 19 points to rally past the Irish 80-73 at the Crossroads Classic. Butler topped Purdue 74-68 in the second game.
"We let one slip away," said Notre Dame forward V.J. Beachem.
Collin Hartman made two free throws with 57.5 seconds remaining to give the Hoosiers a 75-73 lead and Indiana (9-3) held on to end Notre Dame's three-game winning streak.
Troy Williams led the Hoosiers, who outscored the Irish 49-32 in the second half, with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
"Our players did a fantastic job of responding to their strengths and playing through it," Indiana coach Tom Crean said.
Indiana (9-3) utilized a 2-3 zone to shut down Notre Dame (7-3) in the second half.
"We have to make a jump shot or two over that zone to escape," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "That momentum was swinging, the building was swinging their way. We never could really knock down another big jump shot to give us enough breathing room to escape."
The Irish couldn't miss early in the second half. Notre Dame made its first seven shots after halftime to build a 56-40 lead with 15:11 remaining.
"There were probably some people at home that turned the game off," said Indiana's Robert Johnson, who had 17 points.
Colson provided the spark for the Irish. In addition to his 24 points, the sophomore forward had eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
"We love when he's in the high post, whether it's against man-to-man or against zone," Beachem said of Colson. "Seeing him attacking and making great decisions is great for us."
But the shots stopped falling for the entire team.
"We weren't getting the same movement offensively," Beachem said. "The zone slowed us down a little bit. And we were missing some of the shots we made in the first half."
And Indiana got on a roll.
Yogi Ferrell made a 3-pointer to tie the game 71-71 with 4:13 to go. Colson made his last basket at the 2:55 mark, but the game was tied 73-73 when Hartman stepped to the line in the last minute.
He converted both free throws to put the Hoosiers up for good. Indiana outscored the Irish 40-17 in the final 14:48.
"It's different attacking with some game pressure on you down the stretch on the road," Brey said. "It's an area of growth we need to have."
lpope@tribpub.com
