Feb. 19, 2000
By TOM CANAVAN
AP Sports Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – David Graves grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a 10-foot jumper with three tenths of a second left to give Notre Dame a wild 76-74 victory over No. 23 Seton Hall on Saturday night.
Troy Murphy matched his season high with 35 points as Notre Dame (16-10, 7-5 Big East) blew a late 10-point lead and then came back to hand Seton Hall (18-6, 10-4) its second straight loss.
Rimas Kaukenas had 22 points and freshman center Samuel Dalembert added a career-high 18 for the Pirates, whose first stay in the Top 25 since 1993 is likely to end after a week.
After Kaukenas tied it with a layup with 37.5 seconds to play, Notre Dame took over and played for a last shot, but the Pirates never let Murphy get near the ball.
An off balance 30-foot 3-pointer by Matt Carroll with four seconds to play bounced off the rim, but the Pirates were fooled when the shot-clock horn sounded.
Graves never stopped. He grabbed the rebound to the right of the lane and popped back up and hit a fallaway jumper with three tenths of a second to play.
The officials reviewed the play and didn’t change anything.
Murphy batted away a length-of-the-court pass at the buzzer.
Seton Hall almost made a great comeback after a 19-2 Notre Dame spurt helped the Irish take a 62-51 lead with 7:53 to go.
The margin was 67-57 with 5:52 to go and the Irish still led 71-62 after Murphy hit two free throws with 4:49 to go, his last points.
Shaheen Holloway and Kaukenas hit consecutive 3-pointers to ignite a 10-0 run that Ty Shine capped with a steal and a layup for a 72-71 lead with 1:54 to go.
Graves, who had 15 points, countered with a 3-pointer for a 74-72 lead with 1:36 left.
Dalembert missed two free throws with 1:22 to play, but after Murphy missed a baseline jumper, Kaukenas tied it with a driving layup with 37.5 seconds to go.
Notre Dame, which was down seven at the half, trailed 49-43 after Lane hit a somewhat controversial three-point play with 15:37 to go.
The Irish then held Seton Hall to just one basket over the next eight minutes while scoring 19 points. Graves started the run with a 3-pointer and Murphy chipped in nine along the way to give Notre Dame a 62-51 lead with 7:53 to play.