Purdue Fort Wayne
8-6,2-1Horizon
Notre Dame
9-4,0-0ACC
Purdue Fort Wayne MBB Knocks Off Notre Dame 72-69
12/21/2025 4:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Purdue Fort Wayne men's basketball team beat Notre Dame 72-69 on Sunday (Dec. 21) behind 29 points from Corey Hadnot II.
This is Purdue Fort Wayne's fourth win against a major conference foe. The Mastodons beat Indiana in 2016 and 2017 and DePaul in 2023. All four wins have come under head coach Jon Coffman.
Hadnot proved to be the best player on the floor all game. He finished with a game-high 29 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. He was 10-for-16 from the floor, 4-for-7 from 3-point range and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. All of his free throws came in the final 30 seconds of the game to seal it.
While the game was never fully out of reach for the home team until the final moments, the Mastodons led for 35:25 of the contest for their first win away from Fort Wayne. Notre Dame led for just 2:30, nearly two minutes of which came in the first 2:35 of the game.
The Mastodons had an 8-0 run to go up 15-6 thanks to 3-pointers from Mikale Stevenson and Hadnot and a dunk from Hadnot. The first half was a defensive slugfest, as the Mastodons went into the halftime break with a 27-24 lead. An early sign it was Hadnot's day was when he banked in a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer in the first half.
Notre Dame clawed back in the second half, tying it at 41 before the 'Dons pushed it to 46-41 with a quick 5-0 spurt from Stevenson. Notre Dame never tied it again from there.
It took nearly four minutes for the 'Dons to score after leading 54-49, but the 'Dons did enough on defense to keep Notre Dame at bay. In a 6:53 stretch, including those four minutes, the Fighting Irish had just one basket and two free throws.
When the 'Dons led 56-55 after a Notre Dame layup, DeAndre Craig Jr. drilled a 3-pointer with 88 seconds to go. Like all afternoon, the Fighting Irish cut back into the lead, eventually hitting a tough 3-pointer with four seconds let.
Maximus Nelson collected the in-bounds pass and headed to the foul line for two free throws and iced the game there.
It took just four Mastodons scoring to top the Irish. Hadnot's 29 led the way, followed by 18 from Stevenson, 14 from Craig Jr. and 11 from Nelson. Despite having just those four score, the 'Dons finished 40.7 percent from the floor (24-of-59) and 31.4 percent from 3-point range (11-of-35).
The Mastodons had just eight turnovers compared to Notre Dame's 15.
With the victory, Purdue Fort Wayne improved to 8-6 while Notre Dame fell to 9-4.
After ending the non-league slate on a high note, the Mastodons will turn their attention to a trip to Milwaukee on December 29 for a date with the Horizon League preseason favorites.
