Feb. 5, 2001

Notre Dame vs. St. John’s Box Score

By TOM COYNE
Associated Press Writer

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Troy Murphy had 34 points on 12-of-15 shooting and 11 rebounds as No. 20 Notre Dame overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat St. John’s 83-73 Monday night.

Trailing 46-36 early in the second half, the Irish went on 39-10 run to take control, with Murphy scoring 14 points during the run. The comeback began with a 15-foot jumper by Martin Ingelsby with 14:58 left and finished with Murphy scoring on a rebound of a missed free throw by Ryan Humphrey.

It was the sixth straight Big East victory for the Irish (15-5, 7-2), who had never won more than three straight conference games. St. John’s (12-9, 6-4) fell to 1-6 on the road.

The performance provided Murphy with a measure of revenge against St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis. Murphy and then-Irish coach Matt Doherty weren’t pleased last season when Jarvis said Murphy would be in the NBA this season. Murphy also wasn’t happy with the way Jarvis used him on the USA Men’s Select team this past summer. Murphy played only 18 minutes a game and averaged four points and three rebounds.

Murphy started strong, scoring Notre Dame’s first seven points, and never let up.

The key for the Irish, however, was better hustle in the second half. The Irish were outrebounded 22-17 in the first half and trailed by four points. The Irish had a 24-14 rebounding advantage in the second half and outshot the Red Storm 60.9 percent to 36.4 percent.

Humphrey had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Irish, marking the fourth time this season that Murphy and Humphrey had double-doubles in the same game. David Graves added 13 points and Ingelsby and Matt Carroll had 10 points each.

Omar Cook led the Red Storm with 24 points on 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. Willie Shaw added 17 points.

Despite making just two of their first 14 shots – one of them on a bad alley-oop pass by Cook that went in for a 3-pointer – the Red Storm led 40-36 at the half on the strength of 13 offensive rebounds compared to just four for the Irish.