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Notre Dame hangs on to edge Bulls, 65-62

Photo by MIKE HARTMAN

Notre Dame's Luke Harangody battles for the rebound with South Florida players.

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By TOM NOIE

Special to The Tribune

Published: February 7, 2010

Updated: 02/08/2010 03:00 am

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Battling back from a big early deficit and taking a second-half lead before falling short Sunday mattered little to South Florida.

Having won four consecutive Big East basketball games for the first time in school history, including two straight on the road, the Bulls expected to extend that success against Notre Dame.

Instead, USF trailed by 15 points in the opening 12 minutes, awoke to lead by six with just more than half of the second half remaining but lost for the first time since Jan. 20, 65-62.

"A loss is a loss to us," said Chris Howard, who scored a game- and season-high 23 points. "We did come in and fight, but our goal isn't to come into people's house and put up a fight. We play to win games. Losses are unacceptable."

The Bulls fall to 15-8 overall, 5-6 in the Big East. Winners of two straight league games for only the second time this season, the Irish are 17-7, 6-5.

"We're fortunate to escape with a Big East win," Irish coach Mike Brey said.

South Florida's two losses to Notre Dame have been decided by a total of four points.

"We can't seem to get the Irish's number," USF coach Stan Heath said. "We just seem to come up a little bit short."

No player in the league had been on such a scoring roll as Bulls guard Dominique Jones. He went into the contest averaging 35.0 points during the USF winning streak but never could get on track. Jones missed his first six shots and finished 3-for-17 for 10 points.

"He just had some shots that didn't fall," Heath said. "It's just an atypical Dominique Jones performance."

Instead of looking to score, Jones looked for teammates. He had a game-high eight assists. His drives often ended in finds of Jarrid Famous for dunks or easy flip shots from Howard.

"Notre Dame put a lot of attention on Dominique," Howard said. "Their defense was focused on him, which allowed me cuts and to make reads, things I do well, to get the ball."

Famous had 18 points and eight rebounds as USF scored 36 points in the paint to Notre Dame's 16. He also hounded All-American Luke Harangody into a 5-for-17 shooting performance.

"Just wanted to go in there and make a presence on the rebounding and posting up strong in the lane," said Famous, who missed a free throw that would have tied it at 63 with 8.3 seconds left.

The Bulls were 10 of 20 from the free throw line.

"Free throw shooting was atrocious," Heath said. "We've got to spend some time, make sure we're better at that."

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