Men's Basketball Takes Fight Out Of Irish
Feb. 26, 2000
MIAMI –Mario Bland scored a team-high 14 points and the Hurricanes limited Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy, the nation’s fifth leading scorer (23.4 ppg) to just 14 points, as the University of Miami knocked off the vistiting Irish, 55-52.
David Graves led Notre Dame with 16 points. Miami’s John Salmons added 12 points. Miami played without leading scorer Johnny Hemsley who was suspended for disciplinary reasons. Starting in place of Hemsley was sophomore Paulo Coelho who scored a career-best eight points, including a 3-pointer with 3:06 left that keyed the victory.
Miami, which has won nine of its last 10 conference games, remains in contention for the regular season BIG EAST title.
After missing all six 3-point attempts in the first half, the Hurricanes hit three consecutive shots to help them draw even at 45-45 with 8:30 remaining.
Miami’s fourth three-pointer however was the largest. After Murphy had given the Fighting Irish a 50-49 lead with 3:31 to play, Coelho, who played 22 minutes, then drained a 3-pointer at the 3:06 mark to give Miami a 52-50 lead which it wouldn’t relinquish.
In the first half, Notre Dame had more turnovers (16 to 15) than shots, but still led 28-22 as the Hurricanes made just 9-of-28 from the field.
