Recap: Notre Dame vs. Old Dominion
Sports Network | March 18, 2010
New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - Keyon Carter made two crucial free throws with 9.6 seconds left in regulation, proving to be the difference as 11th- seeded Old Dominion knocked off sixth-seeded Notre Dame, 51-50, in the first round of the South Region.
Carter finished with 11 points, while Frank Hassell carried the load with 15 points and nine rebounds for the Monarchs (27-8), who sat for nine days after capturing the Colonial Athletic Association crown on March 8th.
Old Dominion, which captured its first NCAA Tournament win since 1995, moves on to face Baylor on Saturday at New Orleans Arena. The third-seeded Bears downed 14th-seeded Sam Houston State, 68-59, on Thursday.
Ben Hansbrough posted 17 points and Carleton Scott ended with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (23-12), who shot 31.3 percent in the second half after leading by six at the break.
Following Carter's two free throws down the stretch, Scott's contested three- pointer went in and out from the left wing. After Hansbrough missed the putback, Luke Harangody's make at the buzzer was too little, too late for the Irish.
Harangody, who has been a shadow of his former self after suffering a knee injury late in the season, went 2-for-9 from the field for four points to end his career at Notre Dame, which used a late six-game winning streak and a run to the semifinals in the Big East Tournament to earn an at-large bid.
"We had some great looks over their zone that didn't go down," Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said. "If you're going to win, you've got to knock down a couple and kind of get them out of that zone. We never really could do that, and it put a lot of pressure on us."
The closely played contest was a one- or two-possession game for much of the second half.
Hassell grabbed one of his four offensive rebounds and put in a layup while being fouled with 5:51 remaining in the game.
His free throw tied it at 43-all, and both teams went silent until Darius James drained a three with a little over two minutes left. Notre Dame, which missed four attempts from behind the arc with the score tied up, answered on the next trip down with Scott's make from the corner.
Gerald Lee's deep deuce with under 90 seconds to play broke the 46-46 score, and after another Harangody miss, Lee made 1-of-2 from the foul line with 56.2 seconds to go.
A long Notre Dame possession ended in a Tory Jackson missed three from six feet behind the arc, and James grabbed the rebound before missing the front end of a 1-and-1 with 29.6 showing.
Harangody's first basket, a cleanup of Scott's errant putback with 12.6 on the clock, made it a one-point game, leading to Carter's clutch free throws at the other end.
"We made some free throws when we needed to and got some stops," Old Dominion Head Coach Blaine Taylor said. "You know, [it was] St. Patrick's Day yesterday, and I guess we have a St. Old Dominion's day today."
At the midway point of the first half, Jackson capped a 10-0 Irish run with a three-pointer for a 15-6 cushion.
Notre Dame responded to seven straight Old Dominion points with an 8-2 spurt, and went into the locker room with a 28-22 lead.
Scott opened the second half with a jumper from the foul line, but Notre Dame went scoreless for the next six minutes. Ben Finney scored five quick points on the subsequent 9-0 Monarchs run, as Carter's make from the left elbow gave ODU a 31-30 lead.
Old Dominion improved to 3-9 all-time in the tourney. This is its first win since dropping Villanova in the first round in 1995...Notre Dame fell to 30-34 all-time in the tourney...Lee finished with nine points for ODU, which shot 41.7 percent for the game...Notre Dame made 35.6 percent from the field for the game and attempted just three free throws, making two...Jackson ended with five points on 2-of-11 shooting.
