Notre Dame hoops improves to 5-1 with another blowout
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
Notre Dame continued to pad its record by beating lesser competition on Saturday afternoon, but give the Irish a break teams get fat on cupcakes this time of the year.
The latest cupcake the Irish consumed was Saint Francis of Pennsylvania.
Notre Dame improved to 5-1 on the season thanks to a 69-52 win in Purcell Pavilion.
Jack Cooley led the way with another double-double (17th of his career) as he had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Eric Atkins and freshman Cameron Biedscheid each chipped in 13 points.
Garrick Sherman and Jerian Grant were the other Irish players to score in double figures, adding 11 each.
Five guys in double digits is good, Atkins said. It really gets us going on the offensive side of the ball. We needed a good offensive game. We’ve been struggling a little bit.
Irish coach Mike Brey again liked how unselfish his team was.
I love that our perimeter continually fed the post, he said. Good for us, we shared the ball, we only turned it over nine times.
Other than the win, the big story emerging from the game was the fact that senior guard Scott Martin did not play due to tendonitis in his knee. It was the same knee that required reconstructive surgery three years ago.
We just wanted to rest it, said Brey about the decision to sit Martin.
The Irish led by as many as 13 in the first half and held a 35-23 halftime advantage.
Notre Dame’s largest lead of the game came with 4:14 remaining in the second half at 68-43, but St. Francis scored nine of the game’s final 10 points to make it a little less lopsided.
The Irish dominated on the glass – 42-25 – which led to a 13-2 advantage in second-chance points.
Notre Dame shot the ball better than it has, hitting at a 49.1 percent clip (28-of-57), including 44.4 percent from long distance (8-of-18). However, the Irish continue to be very suspect at the free throw line. They were a dismal 5-of-13 (38.5 percent) from the charity stripe.
We’ve got to be better from the foul line, Brey said. I hope the law of averages can kick in a little bit. You don’t want to over-talk about it or over-work on it either. I don’t want guys thinking too much about it, but we’ve got to be better there.
St. Francis fell to 0-5 on the young season.
Notre Dame returns to action at 7 p.m. Monday when it hosts Chicago State, a game that will be televised by ESPNU.
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