Foul trouble doesn't halt Notre Dame's Harangody
Luke Harangody didn't let being in foul trouble against an athletic Georgetown team bother him. Neither did Notre Dame coach Mike Brey.
Harangody thought he would spend about 10 minutes on the bench when he picked up his fourth foul with 15:17 left and the 13th-ranked Fighting Irish up by 6 points.
Instead, he sat less than four minutes, then scored 10 points and grabbed 5 rebounds down the stretch to help host Notre Dame beat the ninth-ranked Hoyas 73-67 on Monday night and end a five-game losing streak to Georgetown.
Brey said he didn't think for too long about putting Harangody back in.
"When you're an older player, a veteran player, my feeling is sometimes coaches sit guys with foul trouble too much. He's played a lot of basketball," Brey said. "I talked with him when I took him out. I told him, 'I need you to be smart.' "
Harangody, who had never scored more than 13 points in three previous games against Georgetown but poured in 31 in this one, scored Notre Dame's final 13 points of the first half to give the Irish an 11-point lead.
"He's the MVP of our league," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said of the reigning Big East player of the year. "He makes good decisions. He can score from many places on the court, and they surround him with guys who can make shots."
The Hoyas closed to 71-67 with 15 seconds left when Chris Wright scored inside, but Kyle McAlarney, who missed the front end of a 1-and-1 14 seconds earlier, made 2 free throws with 12 seconds left.
McAlarney, who was 1 of 5 from 3-point range in a loss Saturday at St. John's, was 5 of 11 from 3-point range Monday night, finishing with 17 points. Tory Jackson added 10 points and 7 assists.
Freshman Greg Monroe led Georgetown (10-3, 1-2) with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Notre Dame (11-3, 2-1) extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 44 games, including 19 in the conference, 1 shy of the Big East record set by Pittsburgh in 2004.
Loyola 62, UWGB 60: J.R. Blount hit 2 free throws with 4.9 seconds left as host Loyola beat Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The Phoenix and Ramblers traded momentum, with the score tied 11 times and the lead changing 13 times. Loyola (9-6, 1-2 Horizon League) led 32-25 at the intermission on 56 percent first-half shooting.
Wisconsin-Green Bay (10-5, 3-1) fought back and Troy Cotton tied the game with a 3-pointer with 34.7 seconds left.
Blount (17 points) was fouled by Rahmon Fletcher as he drove for the basket. He sank the 2 free throws and a 3-point try by Cotton missed as time expired.