Irish move closer to NIT championship
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Associate Sports Editor
NEW YORK
Notre Dame moved one step closer to winning the NIT title with a balanced team effort and a 73-52 victory over Penn State Wednesday.
Senior point guard Jimmy Dillon marked the game's tempo, giving the Irish their first two points on the way to a 15-2 early lead. Dillon, better known for passing off an open look to his teammates than for taking the ball to the hoop, started the Irish scoring off with an off-balance jumper as the shot clock ran down.
"I think Jimmy's first shot of the game kind of set it all off," sophomore forward David Graves said. "You never really expect that coming from Jimmy."
The Irish opened things up with wide open three-pointers by All-American Troy Murphy and freshman guard Matt Carroll, followed by two Graves free throws. As the Irish dominated the boards, sophomore forward Harold Swanagan scored in the paint and back-up point guard Martin Ingelsby swished a trey.
Six Irish players scored in the first six minutes of play, helping demolish the Nittany Lions' hopes of victory.
"The last five games or so, Coach has really stressed for us to come out and be the aggressors," Murphy said. "Right from the start, we wanted to be the aggressors. I think that we did a good job of that tonight, and kind of got them back on their heels a little bit at first."
After opening with a 13-point lead, the Irish gave the Nittany Lions every chance possible for a comeback. Penn State's players rebounded several missed Irish baskets, and the Irish committed four consecutive turnovers. Junior guard Joe Crispin hit two Penn State baskets to bring the Nittany Lions to within seven at 18-11.
But Penn State didn't gain much at Notre Dame's expense. A trey by Irish freshman Jere Macura put the Irish back ahead by 10. Then Dillon swiped a steal, taking it the length of the floor for a fast break layup, and the Irish were once more in control.
"Every time they made a run, we were able to counter that run," Murphy said.
The Nittany Lions kept looking to narrow the gap. Crispin nailed a three-pointer. First Team Big Ten player Jarrett Stephens dunked the ball for two points, and teammate Titus Ivory scored three on a bucket and foul shot.
Just as quickly as the Irish began to fade away, their lead dropping to four at 27-23 late in the first half, they went on a 13-point run. Everybody got into the act as Macura put back a Carroll miss, Graves dropped in four points and Carroll went for a wide-open layup.
The sweetest play of the game came following a Nittany Lions turnover with 5.1 seconds to go in the first period. Notre Dame called timeout to plan its possession. The Irish threw a cross-court inbounds pass to Dillon. He lobbed it inside to Murphy, who muscled in two of his 18 points and nailed the free throw to go with the hoop.
"We had a good run late in the first half," Doherty said. "Jere Macura was pretty darn good on the offensive boards, and I think that was a big key for us to get that lead back to 15 at halftime."
The two teams played another 20 minutes of ball, but that was mainly for show, as they decided the outcome in the first half. Penn State never got closer than 12 in the second stanza.
The defensive intensity of the Irish forced the Nittany Lions into shooting just 33 percent from the field and committing 20 turnovers.
"You've got to put the ball in the hole to sustain your defense," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "When you couple the turnovers and the poor shooting performance, it can be detrimental to your defense. We had some decent looks at the basket, and we picked a bad time to shoot poorly."
Carroll in particular was impressive defensively. He tallied four steals, intercepting Penn State passes with a vertical jump that seemed high enough to scale Mount Everest. He also hit six of eight free throws down the stretch to cement the outcome.
"I was impressed with our guys' intensity," Doherty said. "These kids, they want to win."
The Irish are going for one more win Thursday when they face the Wake Forest Deamon Deacons in the NIT championship.
Game notes:
uNotre Dame turned the ball over 23 times.
uGraves broke the school's single-season three-point record, hitting his 81st of the year.
uThe Irish outrebounded the Nittany Lions 38-25.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, March 29, 2000
