Dec. 22, 2007
Notre Dame San Francisco Box Score
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (AP) – Luke Harangody scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half as Notre Dame survived seeing its 23-point lead cut to five points, beating San Francisco 84-76 Saturday.
The Irish (8-2), playing for the first time after two weeks off for finals, jumped to a 36-13 lead with 7:24 left in the first half and appeared headed for a blowout. But the Dons (4-8) closed to five points five times in the second half.
Danny Cavic hit a 3 with 9:24 left to cut the Irish lead to 58-53. Harangody scored the next eight points, putting the Irish ahead 66-53 on a basket inside with 6:59 left. After making just 2-of-7 shots in the first half, Harangody was 6-of-10 in the second half.
Dior Lowhorn stopped Harangody’s scoring streak with a basket inside for the Dons to cut the lead to 11. Then Tory Jackson, who had a season-high 15 points and 10 assists for the Irish, added another basket on a rebound, and Ryan Ayers hit a 3 to extend the lead to 71-55.
The Dons cut the lead back to five points again when Manny Quezada, who had 21 of his 25 points in the second half, scored inside with 11.5 seconds left. The Dons had a chance to cut the lead to three points, but Lowhorn missed a 3 with 5 seconds left.
Lowhorn finished with 20 points and Cavic scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half. The Dons shot 50 percent in the second half after shooting 36.7 in the first half. The Dons outscored the Irish 40-38 inside, including 28-18 in the second half.
Kyle McAlarney added 14 points for the Irish and Rob Kurz added 12 points and eight rebounds. Harangody also added 10 rebounds to lead the Irish to a 41-35 rebounding advantage. Jackson also had a double-double, the first of his career.
The Irish took a quick 8-0 lead to start the game and quickly extended it to 18-6 by making seven of their first 11 shots. Behind Jackson scoring 12 points in the first half by repeatedly driving inside, the Irish opened a 36-13 lead when Kurz scored inside on a pass from Jackson.
But the Dons, who fell to 0-6 on the road this season, closed the half on a 16-7 run and trailed 43-29 at intermission after Quezada scored on a layup at the buzzer.
The victory was the sixth straight for the Irish and their 26th straight at home.