Jones' late free throw provides final margin after Irish blow huge lead
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
Torrian Jones watched his first free-throw attempt clang off the rim. He heard his teammates come up to him and encourage him, telling the 66 percent free throw shooter they had confidence in him. He looked at the scoreboard and saw the score tied at 92 with four seconds on the clock.
So he stepped to the free-throw line again, sunk the shot, and then forced Georgetowns's Drew Hall into launching a 30-foot desperation heave at the buzzer.
And when the ball ricocheted off the backboard, No. 11 Notre Dame had survived a scare from Georgetown to win 93-92 in double-overtime.
The game brought back memories of Notre Dame's quadruple-overtime victory over Georgetown last year. And after the game, parallels to the two games were far too easy to come by.
"We were like, `Here we go again,'" Jones said. "But we were tested and we'd been there before. We had guys who went through it before, and I knew we'd be ready."
Notre Dame (18-3, 6-1 in the Big East) is now off to its best start since 1978. And part of their success this season has come when the Irish hang their hat on their free throw shooting ability. It paid off big-time, as seven of Notre Dame's 11 points in the second overtime came on free throws.
At one point, the Irish led 90-85 in the second overtime. But the Hoyas slowly chipped away at that lead. Drew Hall, who made a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in the first overtime to tie the score, hit another three pointer. And after Matt Carroll – who finished with a career-high 36 points, including 6-for-12 from 3-point land – hit a short jumper, Mike Sweetney scored a layup to pull the Hoyas to within two with 46 seconds to play.
After Jones missed a 3-pointer from the corner, Hall hit two free throws to tie the score with 10 seconds left, setting the stage for Jones' heroics.
"They were frenzied and fouling us, and I thought whoever we could get it to, [they had to] just drive and take it all the way to the hole," Irish coach Brey said. "Then we could see what we could get out of it."
But the game wouldn't have even gone into overtime had the Irish not squandered a 15-point lead. Throughout the first half and for most of the second, Notre Dame seemed firmly in control, and when Carroll hit a 3-pointer – setting a school record for most career 3-pointers – with 14:05 remaining to give the Irish a 55-40 lead, the only question remaining seemed to be at what point walk-on Dan Lustig would enter the game.
But Brey didn't think the game was over, the Hoyas didn't fold, and Notre Dame didn't score. Georgetown began dumping the ball into Michael Sweetney, who scored 38 points and finished with 15 rebounds.
"You almost have to let him get some and hope nobody else flat out crushes you," Brey said. "I think we did a good job of that."
Slowly but surely, the Irish watched their lead dwindle. And when Victor Samnick hit a 10-foot jumper, the Hoyas led 66-65 with three minutes to play.
Notre Dame, however, refused to yield. They scored the next three points on free-throws to take a 68-66 lead — a lead they saw disappear again when Sweetney scored, got fouled and made the subsequent free throw.
After Tom Timmermans made a free throw to tie the score with 28 seconds left, the Hoyas called a timeout to set up a final play. Although Hoya coach Craig Esherick said his team was trying to get the ball into Sweetney, they never passed the ball into him and their guards never got a shot off.
"We had tried to get the ball into Mike, and it obviously didn't work," Esherick said. "We did a great job recovering from that, but we obviously made a mistake."
In the first overtime, Carroll got the Irish on top quickly by scoring the first five Irish points. Then, after the Hoyas tied the score, an acrobatic driving dunk by Jones gave Notre Dame a 76-74 lead with 2:12.
The two teams then traded baskets, but when Carroll hit a pair of free throws with six seconds to play, the Irish were on top 82-79. That's when Hall dribbled the length of the floor and buried a 3-pointer to tie the score with 4.4 seconds left.
"I thought we had it," Carroll said. "I thought we had a 3-point cushion, and then he makes an unbelievable play."
Yet the Irish still nearly pulled out the victory in the first overtime. Chris Thomas, who scored 24 points despite shooting 4-for-20 from the field and fouling out in the second overtime, drove the length of the floor and launched an off-balance shot from the right elbow as time expired. The ball glanced off the backboard and bounced on the rim twice before falling away.
But in the final overtime period, the Irish weren't about to be denied.
"We have a team that just refuses to lose, no matter what it is," Carroll said. "We're going to keep fighting if it takes three overtimes, four overtimes, or two overtimes. We're gonna keep fighting until we get that win."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 3, 2003
