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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Matt Doherty made an exception this time.
David Graves' 15-foot jumper at the buzzer gave Notre Dame a
59-57 upset of Ohio State (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 4 AP) on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.
"I usually have a 'Midnight Rule,' where I only allow the guys
to enjoy a win until midnight," Doherty said after winning his
first game as a head coach. "But since we've got about a four-hour
bus ride home, I guess I'll let them celebrate a little longer."
|  | | Ohio State's Ken Johnson blocks the shot of Notre Dame's Harold Swanagan in the first half. |
Graves, who finished with 18 points, dribbled from the backcourt
to the left wing, fumbled for the ball for a split second and got
off the shot as the buzzer sounded. The Fighting Irish, coming off
a 14-16 season, will play at home in the second round Thursday
night against Siena, an 89-79 winner over Davidson.
"It was a great feeling -- 3, 2, 1, then shoot it with 18,000
screaming fans and one of the best players in the country on you,"
Graves said, referring to the Ohio State crowd and guard Scoonie
Penn. "You dream of something like that when you're in your
backyard, it's 10 at night and you're under the lights."
Ohio State, which was 27-9 last season and had four starters
back from a team that reached the Final Four, pulled even on a
three-point play by Penn with 18 seconds left.
"Obviously, it's a very disappointing loss," Ohio State coach
Jim O'Brien said. "Give a lot of the credit to Notre Dame. They
had a good game plan and on this night it worked. The worst thing
about it is, we have to wait two weeks to play again. That is not a
pleasant situation. I wish we were able to play tomorrow."
Doherty, a member of North Carolina's national championship team in 1982, was making his head coaching debut after lengthy assistant
stints at Davidson and Kansas.
"I feel we're very fortunate," Doherty said. "We performed
well and Ohio State didn't perform very well."
Troy Murphy led the Irish with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while
Martin Ingelsby added 14 points.
Only four players scored and only six even attempted a shot for
Notre Dame, which won despite committing 25 turnovers.
Penn led the Buckeyes with 15 points, follow by Michael Redd
with 11. But they both struggled all night and combined for only
seven points in the second half.
"We didn't want Scoonie Penn beating us and I didn't want
Michael Redd beating us," Doherty said. "We wanted to put the
focus defensively on them."
Penn, picked as a preseason All-America, was 6-of-17 from the
field and Redd was only 4-of-16, including a missed layup off an
inbounds play that could have tied the game in the final 30
seconds.
Ohio State had a horrible shooting night, making just 22 of 66
shots for 33 percent.
"We missed more shots than they took," O'Brien said. "That,
plus their turnovers, indicates that we should've won but they were
very efficient on offense."
In the other locker room, there was a lot of talk about the luck
of the Irish.
"We were lucky," Doherty said. "Michael Redd didn't have to
miss that layup. Then again, David Graves didn't have to make that
jumper."
Graves said he didn't even see the winning shot go in.
"I thought Coach would call a timeout. I thought we would try
to get it inside, but Ohio State took that away," he said. "When
they threw me the ball, I looked at the clock and there was no time
to pass. They were giving me my left hand, so I used Harold
(Swanagan) as a shield and shot it. I never saw it go in because I
was falling to the floor."
A 9-0 run midway through the second half gave the Buckeyes a
41-34 lead. That surge was spurred by the team's Yugoslav
connection, Slobodan Savovic and Slobodan Ocokoljic.
The Buckeyes had missed nine of their previous 11 shots before
George Reese hit a 15-foot jumper, Ocokoljic drove the lane for a
bucket, Reese dunked inside off an assist from Savovic and Savovic
then buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
But Notre Dame wouldn't go away and took the lead at 54-51 on
Ingelsby's 3-pointer with 1:47 left. The Irish added to that on a
bucket by Murphy with just under a minute to play before Penn hit
two free throws with 35 seconds left to cut it to 56-54.
After Redd missed the wide-open layup with 29 seconds left,
Murphy hit a foul shot two seconds later to set the stage for the
wild finish.
"I knew my team and we are not that good at this time of
year," O'Brien said. "We need to let go of what was last year. We
are a different team this year."
Notre Dame hit half of its 16 3-point attempts while Ohio State
was 5-of-23 behind the arc.
It was the first time the teams had met in 26 years.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Notre Dame Clubhouse
Ohio State Clubhouse
Preseason NIT at a glance
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Micheal Redd makes the hard layup.
avi: 377 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Scoonie Penn beats the Irish defense for the basket.
avi: 356 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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