Irish earn 63-61 win at Seton Hall
By KERRY SMITH
Sports Writer
Quick thinking by Ryan Humphrey in the waning seconds of Notre Dame's conference showdown at Seton Hall Sunday propelled the Irish to a 63-61 win over the Pirates at the Meadowlands.
In a closely-matched game with 11 lead changes, Pirate point guard Andre Barrett missed a driving lay-up with seven seconds remaining in the game and the score tied at 61. Humphrey pulled down the rebound and connected on a long pass down court to Irish point guard Chris Thomas who tossed in the open lay-up with 5.8 seconds left on the clock for the two-point lead.
After two consecutive timeouts, the Pirates had one last look at the basket, but forward Charles Manga failed to drain a wide-open 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Irish their second win over the Pirates in just eight days.
Forward David Graves provided a spark off the bench for the 15-6 Irish, as the game-high scorer with 20 points.
Darius Lane was the high-scorer for the Pirates with 17.
While the Irish eked out another conference win, they struggled to put points on the board early in the first half.
The Pirates came out strong at the opening buzzer with two quick 3s from Lane and a short jumper by Barrett for an 8-0 lead before the Irish got on the board with a Humphrey foul shot. The Pirates then ran the score to 15-3 for their largest lead of the game before the Irish connected on their first field goal attempt more than eight minutes into the half.
Spurred by two baskets on straight possessions by forward Harold Swanagan, the Irish switched up the tempo, and went on a 12-0 run to bring the Irish to within one at 15-14.
The two teams traded baskets and the Irish finally pulled out their first lead of the game, 18-17, on a Torrian Jones jumper with 7:10 remaining.
Irish head coach Mike Brey entered reserve forward Tom Timmermans into the lineup in the final minutes of the half, freeing up the pressure on Humphrey down low, and the Irish pushed their lead to 33-26 to end the half.
Notre Dame's defense was key in its first-half comeback, as the Irish outscored the Pirates 31-11 in the last 12 minutes of the half.
The second half proved to be a back and forth battle between the two Big East teams, as the Irish relied on key 3-pointers by Graves and Matt Carroll to keep the Irish in the game.
Carroll, a junior, ended the game with 10 points, just 13 shy of a career 1,000 mark.
Humphrey and Swanagan picked up four fouls each with eight minutes remaining in the game, forcing Brey to give Timmermans and freshman Jordan Cornette some extra court time.
The Pirates, who dropped to 11-10 on the season and 4-5 in the Big East, found some unexpected offensive help to stay in the game. While the usual high-scoring duo of Barrett and Lane contributed 26 points, the Pirates also found some help from quieter players. Manga turned in his best performance of the season with 14 points, an uncharacteristic 3-pointer and 12 rebounds, while Greg Morton, also a traditional post player ,connected on two quick 3s to throw the Irish defense off kilter.
John Allen added 10 for the Pirates.
The Irish return to action Wednesday when they take on Rutgers at the Joyce Center.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 4, 2002
