Petersburg's defense, rebounding too much for Notre Dame

Add in 18 turnovers, and it was more than the Fighting Irish could overcome in their 61-53 home loss on Saturday.

“Boxing out, we didn’t do that, that’s a disgrace to say we even attempted that,” Notre Dame coach Jarrod West said. “We didn’t box out; we didn’t get to where we’re supposed to be.

“It’s hard to win when you don’t listen, and we didn’t listen, get to where we’re supposed to be, do what we’re supposed to do, and you have to compete. In any sport, you have to compete at a high level. If you don’t listen or compete a high level, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Notre Dame led 41-31 in the third quarter following a 3-pointer from the right wing by Gabe Urso. At the time, it was the eighth 3-pointer the Fighting Irish buried in the game.

But after Petersburg pressed in the full court and switched to a man-to-man defense in the half court, the comeback began.

Notre Dame, however, still led throughout most of the third quarter until the game was tied at 43. But Petersburg took its first lead on a layup by Trace Rohrbaugh, which started a 9-0 Petersburg run that carried over to the fourth quarter.

Urso buried a jumper from the free-throw line and was later fouled while grabbing a rebound, sending him to the free-throw line. In the double bonus, he hit both free throws, cutting Notre Dame’s deficit to 52-47.

That was the closest the Fighting Irish were able to get, as Petersburg closed the game on a 9-6 run.

Notre Dame only made 10 of 22 free throws.

Petersburg was led by Peyton Tingler, who had a double-double as he scored 17 points with 10 rebounds. Caden Arbaugh added 12 points with nine rebounds.

Connor Sandreth scored 13 points, Riley Suter added 10 points, Urso contributed nine points, Preston Heslep scored eight points and Andrew Moodispaw scored seven points.

The Vikings opened in a 1-3-1 zone and didn’t press in the first half.

Against the Vikings’ zone, the Fighting Irish shot early and often from the perimeter and connected on three 3-pointers in the first quarter.

That enabled Notre Dame to open the game on a 14-4 run, which included two 3-pointers from Heslep.

In addition to the 3s, Sandreth sent an alley-oop layup to Suter from the left wing. Sandreth tallied five assists in the first half alone.

But Petersburg closed the deficit to 14-12 with an 8-0 run.

Notre Dame, however, answered with a 16-1 run, a run in which Sandreth and Moodispaw each hit two 3-pointers, Ajai Woofter buried a floater and Urso sank two free throws.

“We came out with good energy in the first half,” West said. “Our pressure caused some problems, and we made some shots, which we’ve done for the most of the year. In the first half, we’ve been winning or close in basically every game, and then teams made adjustments that made it a more physical game, and we couldn’t combat that.”

Suter hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to give the Fighting Irish a 36-23 lead. But Petersburg answered with an 8-5 run, including two free throws by Peyton Day, a layup and plus-one free throw by Elijah Kuykendall, a jumper by Caden Arbaugh and a layup by Tingler.

Notre Dame travels to St. Marys at 7:30 p.m. Friday.