|
Quote
|
I don't want to play against guys who shoot 10 for 12 from the floor
-- Dean Smith on Chris Mullin's 22 point performance leading St.John's to a 78-74 victory over No.3 UNC on 11/20/82. |
|
|
Who's Online
|
We have 226 guests and 1 member online
You are an anonymous user. You can register for free by clicking here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No Garden party for ND as lead slips away
By TOM NOIE
Tribune Staff Writer
NEW YORK -- Cheers, claps and shouts swept out from inside the St. John's locker room late Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Next door, not a sound slipped from behind the walls of Notre Dame's quarters.
Still on solid ground to earn a second straight trip
to the NCAA Tournament, the Irish had little to revel in on this night.
With an offense seemingly on cruise control early in the second half, Notre Dame let an 11-point lead slip away and suffered through a long stretch of sluggishness before an 84-81 loss in front of 13,214.
Having trailed by as many as seven points over the final 6:16, Notre Dame could have sent the game into overtime, but failed to earn a good look.
"I'm happy with how we played," Irish head coach Mike Brey said. "We gave ourselves a chance to win the basketball game."
With no timeouts remaining following a Red Storm turnover and timeout, Irish point guard Chris Thomas labored with the ball the length of the floor with 6.9 seconds to play.
Thomas exhausted almost all the time trying to solve a Red Storm double team. As he crossed halfcourt, Thomas tossed up a desperation shot that bounced off the top of the backboard. It eventually fell through the hoop, but it first glanced off the shot clock, which prevented any points.
"They did a great job just double-teaming Chris," Brey said. "We didn't deserve the game at that point. St. John's had earned the game. It would have been a steal if we threw one in right there."
The Irish are 19-9 overall, 9-6 in the Big East. Notre Dame slips back into third place in the West Division with one regular-season game remaining and has lost its three league road games by a total of 11 points.
Ryan Humphrey finished with his sixth straight double-double and 17th on the season after a game-high 29 points with 11 rebounds. Junior Matt Carroll scored 19 points off the bench, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
"I had fresh legs," said Carroll, who sat out Saturday's game against Miami with a sprained right foot. "I was feeling pretty good."
Carroll kept the Irish close with three long looks from 3-point range but never got his hands on the ball for No. 4 in the final sequence.
"It's just how the game was," he said. "They played some great defense."
Seniors David Graves and Harold Swanagan each scored 11 points. Graves, whose three baskets from 3-point range Wednesday helped him set a school record of 249 for his career, managed only one point and was 0-for-4 from the floor in the second half.
"Just one of those days," Graves said.
Thomas, who matched his season high of 32 points four nights earlier against Miami, finished with eight on 2-for-11 from the floor. He had 10 assists to tie the school single-season record of 214 held by Jimmy Dillon and Jackie Meehan.
Junior guard Marcus Hatten led the Red Storm, also 19-9 overall, 9-6 and in second place in the Big East East Division, with 28 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. Senior Anthony Glover, playing in front of the home folks for a final time, added 20 points.
Willie Shaw had 11 points, including two big 3-pointers in the final 5:50, but it was fellow Red Storm reserve that allowed St. John's to play the second half with some extra spice.
Trailing 51-44 with 17:59 to play, Red Storm head coach Mike Jarvis turned to 7-foot-3, 380-pound sophomore center Curtis Johnson to bring any sort of defensive presence into the middle, where Humphrey was often allowed to work unobstructed.
Johnson's emergence brought the Garden crowd to life, and they were on their feet minutes later when he blocked Thomas' layup.
"It was totally different," Humphrey said of the game with Johnson involved. "When Johnson came into the game, he just brought a different presence, and they just kind of played to the crowd."
Limited to only five games and 31 total minutes this season because of previous foot injuries that saw doctors have to twice break all 10 of his toes to help the healing process, Johnson had one rebound and four fouls in seven minutes but was considered the night's most important player.
"He gave us a presence," Red Storm head coach Mike Jarvis said. "He made some great fouls, he played big and he picked everybody up."
Johnson was rewarded afterward with a trip to the interview room to meet the media.
"The last time that I had this much fun," he said, "I was in high school."
Notre Dame played one of its finest first halves of the season, shooting 60 percent from the floor with 16 assists on 18 baskets. The Irish led by seven at the break and started the second half just as strong. Thomas found Swanagan for a layup to make it 51-40 at the 19:17 mark.
"They ran against us better than anybody has this year -- anybody," Jarvis said.
Notre Dame then worked the next 7:49 without a basket, and finished with only seven more the rest of the game. Humphrey snapped the streak with a baseline drive and two-handed dunk to bring the Irish within four at 11:27.
That stopped a 22-5 St. John's spurt, which included 11 points from Hatten from a variety of spots.
Notre Dame shot 32 percent the second half.
"They took away our transition," Brey said. "They've got quick guys who get up into you. They kind of locked us up at times."
Humphrey was hot in the first half with 19 points, mostly on short jumpers around the basket and dunks as the Irish finished with 47 points the first 20 minutes, two shy of their season high.
Humphrey's final bucket arrived at the halftime horn with a tip-in of missed layup from Thomas, who raced the length of the floor with 5.8 seconds remaining.
Notre Dame led by as many as nine points twice in the first half. The Irish were up seven in the closing minute before Glover hit a 3-pointer in front of the Irish bench. Red Storm swingman Sharif Fordham then smacked the ball out of the hands of Torrian Jones, who was trying to inbound the ball. Fordham was called for a technical foul and Graves hit one of two free throws to set up Humphrey's final hoop.
Notre Dame received some good news before the game when signee Torin Francis was named one of 24 McDonald's All-Americans. Francis, a 6-foot-10 forward from Tabor (Mass.) Academy, will represent the East Squad for the April 4 game, which will be held at Madison Square Garden.
Staff writer Tom Noie:
tnoie@sbtinfo.com
Note: South Bend Tribune Feb 28, 2002
|
|
|
| |
|
|
