This will hurt – even if it has sparked hope.

After suffering a shock three and a half minutes into the game, Notre Dame proved its mettle again and again, falling to Rutgers 85-84 in overtime late Tuesday at the Players Era Festival tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

When Rutgers’ 6-foot, 270-pound center Emmanuel Ogbole landed with his entire body on Markus Burton’s right leg under ND’s basket, the Irish (4-2) faced a formidable challenge. Suddenly they were missing a 6-0, 190-pound sophomore with 21 points, five rebounds and dynamic leadership.

Would anyone step in? Could someone step in?

Several did.

SUBSCRIBE INDOOR AND SPORT To stay up to date on Notre Dame athletics

The main hero was Matt Allocco, the 6-4 graduating senior guard and Princeton transfer who averaged eight points per game. He did the heavy lifting while running on the ground. He played all 45 minutes and finished the game with a team-high 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists – and just one turnover.

His night included six three-pointers on nine attempts.

He scored three goals in a row to revive Irish hopes after a six-point deficit in the final 40 seconds of overtime.

His final goal took 12.3 seconds to tie the game at 84 seconds and stun Rutgers and the 7,600 spectators.

The comeback was short-lived. Freshman Cole Certa, who had only played seven minutes all season, came on as a shooter in the final seconds and unnecessarily intentionally fouled Rutgers star Dylan Harper with 11 seconds left.

Harper, a 6-6 rookie who is expected to be a top-five draft pick in the NBA next summer and was rated the fourth-best recruit in the country by Rivals, made his mark largely by pushing through the Irish defense meandered to 36 points against the Irish. Only two of his shots came from threes, and he was 10 of 14 from the line.

He made the last of those free throws with 11 seconds left, giving the Scarlet Knights (5-1) an 85-84 lead.

“It’s just an unfortunate situation,” the Irish coach said Micah shrew said about Certa’s mistake. “It’s not the first time it’s happened and it’s probably not the last time it ever will happen.

“Because of injuries, because of fouls, we’re playing with a freshman late in the game, but that wasn’t the game, was it? There were a lot of things going on long before that. … I haven’t lost faith in Cole Certa. He will play tomorrow (Thursday vs. Houston, 12:30 a.m.). I guarantee he will have a chance tomorrow. He’ll be ready to go tomorrow.

“You know, it happens, and I’m sorry it happened, but it’s happened before. This has happened to many people. And he will continue. This will make him feel better. We will come out of this situation better.”

Notre Dame didn’t do much in the final 11 seconds. Tae Davis attempted to drive down the lane but was cut off and thrown back into the fence before Shrewsberry called a timeout with 3.8 seconds left.

Allocco then threw it in from the subcourt and got it back. He took a few dribbles and managed a contested shot from the top of the key. It bounced high off the rim as the clock hit zero at 1:48 a.m. (South Bend time).

Shrewsberry had no immediate information about the severity of Burton’s injury.

“I don’t have any updates,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re just going to put the matter in God’s hands and let Him handle whatever happens next and we’ll deal with it.”

Join the conversation THE INSIDER LOUNGE MESSAGE BOARD

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE INDOOR AND SPORT ON YOUTUBE

Notre Dame had to adjust quickly in a game that started nearly an hour later than scheduled at 10:30 a.m. due to an earlier overtime game between Alabama and Houston.

Without Burton, the approach changed. They slowed the pace and delivered solid defense early.

Notre Dame led by 10 with 5:28 left in the first half before the Knights’ Harper and Jordan Derkack (16 points) led Rutgers back and cut the deficit to one (35-34) at halftime.

Until then, there had been 10 draws and 16 lead changes.

The Irish got a strong hand from their bench.

Logan Imes, a 6-4 sophomore guard, averaged just eight minutes and 1.8 points per game. He finished the game with eight points in 35 minutes and went 2-4 on three-pointers. Burke Chebuhar, a 6-8 sophomore who averaged 5.3 points in eight minutes, had 11 points (3 of 6 on threes) and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.

“There’s no other group of guys or locker room I’d rather be in than with our group,” Shrewsberry said. “We may not be as talented as all the other teams out here, but we are certainly just as strong. We compete and we execute.”

The Irish had nine turnovers by halftime, but reduced that number to five in the second half and overtime.

Neither team could sustain a run.

After Allocco gave the Irish a 66-65 lead with a drive to the bucket at 1:22, Rutgers came back with four straight points to take a 69-66 lead with 25.1 seconds left.

Allocco, who missed a 15-foot fadeaway jumper with 35 seconds left, found some room at the top of the 3-point line and tied the game with 69 seconds left.

Harper’s 3-point attempt at the end of regulation missed completely and sent the game into overtime.

The Irish led by a few points early in overtime, but back-to-back turnovers at 1:30 and 1 minute opened the door for the Scarlet Knights.

Braeden Shrewsberry finished the game with 16 points but struggled from the 3-point line on 3 of 13 and Tae Davis had 15 points and six rebounds.

The Irish didn’t have a single fast break point and finished the game shooting 44% from the field to Rutgers’ 45% and 42% from the 3-point line to Rutgers’ 33%.

The Knights hit 19 of 28 free throws to ND’s 12 of 15, and the Irish had a 42-36 advantage in rebounds.

BOX SCORE: Rutgers 85, Notre Dame 84 (OT)

————————————————– ————-

• Talk to Notre Dame fans in the Insider Lounge.

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.

• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND And @TJamesND.

• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports

• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports