Luke Harangody had 30 points and 11 rebounds and Notre Dame hit 12 3-pointers to end a 10-game losing streak to Kentucky, beating the Wildcats 77-67 last night in South Bend, Ind., to advance to the NIT semifinals.
Jodie Meeks scored 18 of his 21 points in the final 12:18 as the Wildcats (22-14) used a 17-5 run to cut the lead to 67-62 on a slam dunk by Perry Stevenson with 2:42 left.
“He only had three shots in the first half,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “But a guy like that, he got going a little bit in the second half. But overall I thought we did a really good job.”
The Irish were 8-of-8 from the free-throw line over the final 1:29 to end the game on a 10-5 run to hang on.
Kyle McAlarney added 15 points and Ryan Ayers, who held Meeks to one basket until the Irish were up by 15, added 14 points on 4-of-7 3-pointers for Notre Dame (21-14).
Patrick Patterson added 18 points for the Wildcats.
The Irish wil face Penn State (25-11) Tuesday night in New York.
“We’re all super excited,” said McAlarney, a Staten Island native. “We put all the talk about us getting to the NCAAs way behind us and we focused on getting back to New York.”
San Diego St. 70, St. Mary’s 66
In San Diego, San Diego State blew a 13-point second-half lead, then rallied to beat Patrick Mills and the Gaels.
Tim Shelton posted up for the go-ahead basket with 48.6 seconds left and Richie Williams made three free throws in the final 26 seconds.
Mills scored a game-high 18 points but had a horrible night shooting, going 7-for-24 overall and 4-for-13 on 3-pointers, and fouled out with 10.8 seconds to go.
The Aztecs (26-9) will play Baylor (23-14) in the semifinals.