By By JEFF FISHER / Niles Daily Star
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - It wasn't the start that the Irish were looking for against No. 16 Marquette, but the end was a record book finish.
Notre Dame went 14-for-17 from the charity stripe in the first half to help overcome a 13-point deficit en route to an 85-73 victory over the Golden Eagles at the Joyce Enter.
The victory allowed the Irish (22-6, 10-5 Big East) to finish unbeaten (18-0) at home and gain sole possession of fourth place in the conference and send seniors Colin Falls and Russell Carter out with victories.
The 10 wins in the Big East are the most since the 2002-03 season.
"Now that was a heck of an afternoon of basketball. What a great Big East games," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "I'm proud of our guys because they're really good. We are proud of being undeafeated at home."
Marquette seized control right from the opening tip.
They raced out by hitting their first six shots. They played defense on one end and put on a slam dunk contest at the other end. The visitors were up 17-6 with 11:00 minutes remaining in the first half.
"Their team speed in the first 10 minutes we were having a very hard time dealing with. They are really good and change ends and they get down the floor faster than anybody we've played. Thank God they got tired and couldn't sprint the whole 40 minutes," Brey added.
Notre Dame began to chip away at the lead as they went to their 6-foot-8 forward Luke Harangody. The freshman scored 10 points in a two-minute stretch and placed three Golden Eagle players in early foul trouble, which led to a lot of free-throw opportunities.
An 11-0 run to end the first half helped the Irish to a 42-36 halftime lead. Marquette (22-8 9-6 Big East) would never regain the advantage.
Harangody continued to dominate in the second half, as Marquette had no answer for him. Harangody posted career-highs with 22 points and 13 rebounds for the contest.
"We are not going back down to anyone in our league, and I think that we proved it and we never backed down," Harangody said.
Enter the Notre Dame seniors.
Senior guard Colin Falls canned a historic three-pointer from the top of the acr to give the Irish their biggest lead of the game at the 13 points with under five minutes remaining.
Falls finished with 14 points, grabbed a career-high eight rebounds, and hit a 4-of-7 shots from behind the arc as he broke the Big East record for career three-pointers. His 184 is one more than former Syracuse standout Gerry McNamara achieved.
Classmate Russell Carter had 13 points and hauled down eight rebounds. Freshman guard Tory Jackson put in a career-high 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists. He also logged in 40 minutes for the game. Another career-best. Guard Wesley Mathews led Marquette with 17 points. Mathews fouled out of the game early in the second half.
Jerel McNeil added 16 points and Dominic James with 14.
The Irish now travel to Rutgers on Saturday, March 3.