Aug. 23, 2008
DUBLIN, Ireland – For the second straight night, Kyle McAlarney dazzled the fans at the National Basketball Arena in Dublin with his three-point shooting prowess. McAlarney’s 10 three-pointers on Friday evening capped off a 32-point performance and led the Irish to an 88-76 win over Poland on the second night of the Emerald Hoops International Series.
It was Notre Dame’s second win over Poland in five days following a 104-86 victory in Belfast on August 17. The Irish remained unbeaten and improved to 5-0 on its 13-day tour of Ireland with one game remaining on Saturday (August 23) afternoon versus Iceland.
McAlarney, who had 25 points on seven three-pointers on Thursday night against Ireland, was named the Molten MVP of the game for the second time in as many games. McAlarney led four Irish players in double figures as Luke Harangody and Ryan Ayers each contributed 13 points in the win, while Luke Zeller tallied 10 points.
Tory Jackson proved to be a spark for the Irish at both ends of the floor and finished with eight points. After Notre Dame grabbed a 25-18 advantage at the end of the first quarter, it was Jackson’s play in the second 10-minute stanza that opened up a 13-point advantage (48-35) at the break.
McAlarney led the Irish with 14 points in the first half, while Zeller was the team’s second-leading scorer in the half with eight points.
Notre Dame started off the second half slowly. McAlarney’s three-pointer 10 seconds into the third quarter pushed the Irish lead to 51-35, but Poland methodically chipped away at the lead and cut the deficit to seven points (64-57) after 30 minutes of play.
Ayers scored five of Notre Dame’s eight points to start the fourth quarter as the Irish maintained a double-digit lead for the final 10 minutes of the contest.
“We’re excited to come away with a victory tonight as we were once again tested by a very good team,” head coach Mike Brey said. “We’ll be looking to wrap up our Ireland tour with a strong effort against Iceland. We have a quick turnaround since that game is in the afternoon, but this will be good test for us. I was pleased with our level of intensity tonight against Poland and how we responded after a tough game against Ireland the previous night.”
— ND —