Lions Keep It Close Early, But Irish Roll
Frank Vitovitch
March 29, 2000

New York, NY - Notre Dame used some sweet shooting and strong defense to advance to the NIT finals for the second time in the last four years.   Penn State closed with four at 27-23 in the late first half before the Irish went on an 11-0 run to end the half and they never look backed.

Notre Dame rolled over one of the University's classic football rivals 73-52 behind some good shooting from David Graves, Jere Macura, Troy Murphy, and Matt Carroll to roll past the Nittany Lions en route to the NIT championship game against Wake Forest on Thursday night.  Troy Murphy lead the way with an 18 point, 8 rebound performance.

Notre Dame's scoring was evenly distributed as Matt Carroll had 13 points while Jere Macura continued his good play with 13 points.  It wasn't just the number of points Jere scored, it was when.  When Penn State made a run mid way through the second half and towards the end of the first half Jere came up with some big shots and put backs to put down the Lion run. 

There was not all good news however for the Irish this evening.  Jimmy Dillon hurt his ankle during the game.  The status of his injury is not known yet, but he was taped up with his sneakers on waiting to get back in the game.  Matt Doherty wisely did not put his starting point guard back in the game since the Irish had the game in hand and using Dillon could only do more damage.

Dillon hurt his ankle tying to dribble around a Penn State defender.  He made a move and went he went to drive past the defender he lost control of the ball.  When he tried to regain possession his ankle buckled under him.   He limped off the court, but by the time he got to the sideline he needed to be helped to get to the trainers.  The trainers taped him up and it appeared he wanted back in, but Doherty didn't give in.

The best part of the incident (if there can be on when someone gets injured), is that when Dillon was on the bench getting taped by the trainer the TV camera was placed on him.  It was apparent that the trainer was telling Jimmy something, but all Jimmy did was motion for him to go faster and basically told him to get done.  You gotta love the competitor in Jimmy wanting to play even though he was hurt. 

There is a very small chance that there could be any real damage (meaning brakes, torn ligaments, etc) in his ankle since it did not appear that he hurt it that bad.  It is most likely a sprain.  Sprained ankles are not all the same.  Saheen Holloway sprained his ankle against Temple and missed Seton Hall's next game in the NCAA Tournament.  This is not to say Dillon won't play Thursday however.   It all depends on how bad the sprain is, and if Jimmy is well enough to play, there is no way he will be sitting on the bench for his final game at Notre Dame.

The Irish wanted to prove a point with the NIT that they should have been in the NCAA Tournament.  They are now one game away from adding an exclamation point to that point with only the championship game remaining Thursday against Wake Forest.  The team is playing very confident now, and if they come out and hit some three's and their shots in general early on, the Irish very well may be cutting down the nets at Madison Square Garden Thursday Night.

Go Irish!