Inglesby leads Irish to impressive rout of Sacred Heart
By BRIAN KESSLER
Sports Writer
After starting at point guard during his first two years at Notre Dame, Martin Ingelsby's pride took a major blow last season, when then-head coach Matt Doherty chose senior Jimmy Dillon as the starter.
However, with the starting job locked up heading into the 2000-01 season, Ingelsby proved Saturday that he is out to make the most of his opportunity. The senior knocked down a career-high five three-pointers in the first 15 minutes of the game and finished with 15 points and six assists to lead No. 16 Notre Dame (1-0) to a 104-58 season-opening victory against Sacred Heart at the Joyce Center.
"I've been waiting for this game since we lost to Wake Forest in the NIT Championship game last year," said Ingelsby, who also grabbed two rebounds and committed just one turnover in 30 minutes of play. "It was a great confidence boost just coming out there and hearing your name in the starting lineup."
"I'm happy for Martin Ingelsby," Irish head coach Mike Brey said. "He had a great game and I know he had a tough year last year."
The Pioneers hung around early, trailing by just four points eight minutes into the contest, but a Matt Carroll four point play at the 11:43 mark got the Irish rolling. Fueled by superb long-range shooting, Notre Dame quickly built a 24-point lead by halftime and never looked back.
"Obviously I was disappointed with our defense," Pioneers' head coach Dave Bike said. "When they made those open shots, we just couldn't recover."
To make matters worse for Sacred Heart, Notre Dame opened the second half with a 29-8 run. Four Irish players scored in double figures, including All-American forward Troy Murphy who scored a game-high 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Ryan Humphrey put in a 19-point, nine-rebound effort in his first official game in an Irish uniform.
"It felt great out there," Humphrey said. "This was a long time coming."
Carroll finished with 17 points and six assists and held Sacred Heart's best player Marijus Kovaliukas in check. Kovaliukas was just 2-of-12 from the floor and missed all four of his three point attempts.
"I challenged Matt yesterday and told him he was going to have Kovaliukas," Brey said. "But Matt worked him really hard, especially early. He's going to be our stopper on the perimeter and that was a good test for him tonight."
Notre Dame held Sacred Heart to just 29 percent shooting from the field. Andrew Hunter scored 15 points and Kurt Reis added 14 in the losing effort. The Irish dished out 25 assists, while committing just 13 turnovers.
"I'm happy with the way we started off," said Brey. "When you have 25 assists, no matter who you are playing, that's good balance."
The Irish shot 57 percent from the field and connected on 30-of-38 attempts from the charity stripe. They also outrebounded the Pioneers, 48-33. Both teams combined for 53 fouls in game that was officiated very tightly.
Notre Dame hosts Loyola (Chicago) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Notes:
Brey picked up his 100th career victory as a head coach and his first at Notre Dame.
Saturday's game marked the first time the Irish went over 100 points in an opener since a 104-56 win over St. Joseph's (Ind.) in 1983.
Murphy, who began the evening No. 16 on Notre Dame's all-time scoring list, passed former Irish greats John Paxson, Collis Jones and Monty Williams to move into 13th.
All Sports Stories for Monday, November 20, 2000
