South Bend, Ind. -- Adrian Nelson scored a career-high 27 points and recorded his second straight double-double but the Youngstown State men's basketball team dropped an 88-81 decision to Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion.
Nelson, who grabbed 10 rebounds, was joined in double figures by Dwayne Cohill who had 18 points, including 16 in the second, as the Penguins fall to 2-1 on the season. Nelson connected on 12-of-18 from the floor, including two 3-pointers, while Cohill dished out six assists.
Notre Dame improves to 2-0 and had five players score in double figures led by Dane Goodwin's 20 points.
A tightly contested battle through the first 20 minutes, Notre Dame led by seven at the intermission, 43-36. Youngstown State scored the first five points of the second half to trim the lead to two, 43-41, before the Fighting Irish went on a 12-4 run to take a 10-point lead, 55-45, at the 14:46 mark.
A 3-pointer by Ven-Allen Lubin gave Notre Dame a nine-point advantage, 60-51, with 11:32 remaining, the Penguins went on a 12-3 run to cut the lead to one, 63-62, A 3-pointer by Nelson and a three-point play by Cohill trimmed the deficit to three, 60-57, before three free throws by Cormac Ryan boosted the Irish lead back to six.
A driving layup by Cohill and a 3-pointer by Brandon Rush got the Penguins within one, 63-62, with 8:13 left.
Notre Dame scored seven of the next nine to regain a six-point lead, 70-64, before Cohill scored five straight points on a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to get the Penguins within one, 70-69 with 4:39 remaining.
After Notre Dame scored the next six to extend the lead to seven but two free throws by Garrett Covington and a layup by John Lovelace, Jr, sliced the deficit back to three with 2:26 to go.
The Penguins would not be able to get any closer.
Nelson did most of his damage in the first half with 16 points.
Youngstown State shot 50.8 percent from the field for the game and 52.9 percent in the second half. Notre Dame, though, hit on 60 percent of its field-goal attempts.
The Penguins host Grace Christian, Tuesday, Nov. 15. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. at the Beeghly Center.
