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Grant leads No. 21 Notre Dame past Miami-Ohio

Nov 9, 2013 - 5:23 AM South Bend, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - Jerian Grant led all scorers with 26 points and added five assists and three rebounds as No. 21 Notre Dame dispatched Miami-Ohio 74-62 on Friday night.

Tom Knight had 13 points, Pat Connaughton added 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Eric Atkins finished with 10 points and six helpers for Notre Dame (1-0).

"When he's shooting like that, you've got to get him the ball," Connaughton said of Grant's hot shooting. "All you have to do is get back on defense."

Garrick Sherman was the only Irish starter held under double-figures in scoring with three points.

Reggie Johnson led the RedHawks (0-1) with 22 points, going 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.

"It was good that we played good against them," Johnson said. "Hopefully we're able to build off of that."

Knight opened the scoring for Notre Dame with a layup 20 seconds into the game. Miami-Ohio's Quinten Rollins answered with a layup but Notre Dame went on a 15-2 run led by Grant's 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting from long range.

The Irish lead grew to as many as 16 in the first half before Miami Ohio tightened things up.

With Notre Dame leading 29-13 at the 7:29 mark, the RedHawks went on a 16-6 run to cut the lead to six, highlighted by a pair of Johnson 3-pointers.

Grant then plucked Johnson with 51 seconds left and soared in for the uncontested dunk to put Notre Dame up 39-29.

Johnson made amends of the turnover, connecting on his third 3-pointer of the half which cut the lead back to seven heading into halftime.

Notre Dame wasted little time getting the lead back to double-digits with the second half beginning similar to the first.

After a Jaryd Eustace jumper to give the Irish their smallest lead since early in the first, Knight made a jump shot and Grant followed a Will Felder free throw with another 3-pointer for a 44-35 lead 2:43 into the final stanza.

Atkins added a free throw to push the lead back to double-digits and Austin Burgett added a 3-pointer with 15:12 left to give the Irish a comfortable 13 point advantage, 48-35.

The RedHawks hung around, but with the Irish up 51-41, Connaughton hit back- to-back triples with just under 10 minutes left to end any hope of a comeback for Miami-Ohio.

Five of Notre Dame's first six buckets in the second half came via the 3- pointer, including four straight.

Miami-Ohio cut the lead back to eight with 6:20 remaining in the game, but Grant hit a jumper and Sherman followed a Johnson miss with an old fashion three-point play.

Felder and Geovonie McKnight each scored 13 points for the RedHawks in the loss.

Game Notes

Notre Dame shot 10-of-21 from beyond the arc compared to 6-of-22 for Miami- Ohio ... Notre Dame opens the season with six straight at Purcell Pavilion ... The next game for the Irish is Sunday against Stetson ...