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Martin leads Irish in rout of Seton Hall

Jan 5, 2013 - 10:22 PM South Bend, IN (Sports Network) - Scott Martin scored 22 points and Jack Cooley contributed 19 with 13 rebounds, as 21st-ranked Notre Dame emerged from a two-week break with a dominant 93-74 win over Seton Hall at the Joyce Center.

Eric Atkins chipped in 17 points and 10 assists for the Fighting Irish (13-1, 1-0 Big East), who hadn't played since an 89-67 victory over Niagara on Dec. 21. Notre Dame has won 11 straight since its lone loss of the season on Nov. 16 against Saint Joseph's.

The Irish's winning streak is the second-longest under coach Mike Brey, behind only a 12-game run set during the 2006-07 season. They'll have a chance to match it on Monday at Cincinnati.

"Very proud and pleased how we started Big East play, layoffs really haven't affected us this year," Brey said. "I thought our offensive efficiency was just off the charts and that was the key. We defended the arch enough where they couldn't really hurt us too bad."

Fuquan Edwin and Aaron Cosby each scored 21 points for Seton Hall (12-3, 1-1), which was coming off a 73-72 win at DePaul in its Big East opener Wednesday. The Pirates had a seven-game winning streak stopped, losing for the first time since a 72-67 setback against LSU on Nov. 29.

Seton Hall held a 13-11 lead seven minutes into the game after a three by Cosby, but Notre Dame answered with nine of the next 11 points and never trailed again. A triple by Cameron Biedschied gave the Irish a 20-15 advantage, but the Pirates kept it close during the first 20 minutes.

A three-point play by Cooley with 3:39 to play in the first half pushed Notre Dame's lead to 35-25, but Seton Hall answered with six straight and later trimmed the deficit to three, 37-34, on a three by Haralds Karlis.

The Irish then closed the half with a 7-2 run and went to the intermission with a 44-36 lead.

"We didn't defend very well. They executed very well," Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said.

Martin had just six points at the break, but drilled a trio of threes in the first three minutes of the second half. His third make gave Notre Dame a 58-41 cushion and Seton Hall never recovered.

The Irish kept shooting from beyond the arc and kept making them, too.

Pat Connaughton and Martin hit back-to-back triples to give Notre Dame a 66-43 advantage and the Pirates got only as close as 15 from there.

Notre Dame finished 12-of-18 from distance, led by Martin's 6-for-7 effort, and shot 56.5 percent overall for the contest.

Game Notes

Martin set a career-best with six threes ... The Irish had 25 assists on 35 made baskets and committed only eight turnovers ... Cooley notched his 10th double-double of the season ... Jerian Grant scored 13 points for Notre Dame ... The Irish have won seven straight Big East openers ... Notre Dame has won 17 straight home games and 46 of its last 47 in South Bend ... Eugene Teague scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Seton Hall, which has dropped 10 of its last 11 meetings with Notre Dame.