FINAL: Notre Dame 65, USF 62

Posted Feb 7, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Feb 7, 2010 at 02:32 PM

The University of South Florida Bulls took one final shot at keeping their school-record four-game winning streak in the Big East alive Sunday at Notre Dame, but Dominique Jones’ 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime bounced off the back of the rim, giving the Irish a 65-62 victory.

During the Bulls’ four-game win streak, Jones averaged 35 points a game and captured national attention. On Sunday, he drew mostly the attention of Notre Dame guards Ben Hansbrough and Tory Jackson. Hansbrough defended Jones in the first half, and Jackson in the second.

They helped limit USF’s star to 3-of-17 shooting and 10 points. Jones did lead the Bulls with eight assists.

USF fell behind 16-2 and 25-10 in the first half, but behind a career-high 23 points from senior guard Chris Howard and 18 points from Jarrid Famous, USF climbed back to lead 50-44 midway into the second half.

However, with Jones unable to take over the game in the second half the way he has done recently, Jackson led the Irish to a key Big East victory.

Notre Dame (17-7, 6-5) moved a game ahead of USF (15-8, 5-6) in the conference in large part to Jackson, who besides helping lock down Jones, scored 14 of his 18 points after halftime.

Check back later for a more detailed analysis of USF’s loss.