Notre Dame defeats Xavier, advances in NIT
By BRIAN KESSLER
Assistant Sports Editor
When your team has just blown a 10-point second half lead and hasn't scored in nearly six minutes, what do you talk about during a media timeout?
If you are Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty, you listen in on the Notre Dame band and explain to your team what a horrible drummer you once were.
"The timeouts are so long and the band was playing so I popped my head out and was telling the guys how I used to play the drums at St. Raymond's grammar school," Doherty said. "One day my parents bought me a drum set and I was so bad after awhile that when I came home they sold them. We talk about stuff to keep them loose and have fun. You can only say so much in a timeout."
Whatever he said it kept the Irish loose and confident down the stretch, as Notre Dame (20-14) made 11-of-13 free throws and outscored Xavier (21-12) 9-3 in the final two minutes to pull out the 76-64 victory.
"It was a good game and they made all the plays in the last three minutes after we cut the lead to 64-61," Xavier head coach Skip Prosser said. "Give Notre Dame credit."
The Irish advance to play the winner of the BYU-Southern Illinois Wednesday at the Joyce Center.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 7-0 lead early behind some hot shooting, but Xavier battled back and took a 24-19 advantage with eight minutes left in the first half. The Irish shot 61 percent in the first half, but the Musketeers, who shot 41 percent, crashed the boards and grabbed nine offensive rebounds. Xavier's second and third shot opportunities resulted in a 36-23 edge in attempts.
Sophomore David Graves caught fire in the first half, connecting on 8-of-11 field goals and scoring 21 points before the break.
"The guys were setting some tremendous screens for me and their big men weren't helping off the screens," Graves said. "I was getting open and so I kept shooting it. It felt great so I kept putting it up."
The Musketeers, however, did a good job limiting Troy Murphy's touches in the first half. The first-team All-American was held to just two shot attempts and nine points.
"We wanted to stop Murphy, but we felt to win we would have to guard the three-point line and it's evident we didn't do that," Prosser said. "It's not like we said we wanted to stop Murphy and let the other guys beat us."
However, it was Murphy and the supporting cast that did the Musketeers in. Xavier took a 45-44 lead with 16:27 left in the game, but Notre Dame came storming back with a 15-4 run to build a 10-point lead midway through the second half.
The Irish did a good job of breaking the Musketeers' press and running their half court offense. Graves was called upon to break the press on several occasions.
"Coach really studied their press," Graves said. "It's their main defense and they practice it everyday, so we had to pick it apart. It was tough for them to press us, since Coach stressed the spacing so much. He put me on the wing and ran some isolation for me. We had to get the ball up somehow."
Notre Dame's half-court execution, however, struggled in the late stages of the game as they were held scoreless for nearly six minutes. The Irish made up for it with stifling defense that allowed just six points over those six minutes.
Murphy made two big hoops down the stretch and clutch free throw shooting helped the Irish pull away.
"There was too much time left and we had to score," Doherty said. "We were either tired or tentative, but I was concerned. They cut it to three, but Troy went back door and made the basket and I think that was a big play."
Murphy, who was playing with a sprained ankle, finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. Graves, however, led the way with 24 points and nine boards. Freshman Matt Carroll added 13 points and five assists, while Harold Swangan scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Irish shot 47 percent from the field and 53 percent from beyond the arc. Notre Dame also outrebounded Xavier, 41-30.
Maurice McAfee paced Xavier with 18 points on 6-of-15 three-point shooting. Kevin Frey had 11 points and Lloyd Price added 10 in a losing effort for the Musketeers.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, March 21, 2000
