• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Jackson, McAlarney lead Notre Dame over Indiana

Nov 25, 2008 - 7:07 AM LAHAINA, Hawaii (Ticker) -- For one night, Notre Dame didn't really need Luke Harangody.

The ninth-ranked Fighting Irish recovered from a sluggish start to dominate a rebuilding Indiana squad on Monday, cruising to an 88-50 victory over the Hoosiers in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.

Harangody, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, scored Notre Dame's first bucket - 2 1/2 minutes into the contest - but was able to relax for most of the afternoon.

Tory Jackson tied a career high with 21 points and dished out eight assists while Kyle McAlarney buried six 3-pointers en route to 18 points as the Fighting Irish rolled to their third straight victory.

Notre Dame advanced to the second round of this tournament, where it will face seventh-ranked Texas. The Longhorns ousted St. Joseph's with a 68-50 triumph earlier in the day.

Harangody averaged 28.5 points over the first two games of the season but needed just a modest 14-point effort to get the job done Monday.

Ryan Ayers's layup sparked a 9-0 run early in the first half as the Irish quickly established control. From there, they were on cruise control, exploiting the Hoosiers' soft perimeter defense to the tune of 10 3-pointers. Notre Dame also dominated inside, holding a 38-27 rebounding advantage.

"We're obviously in a learning process and we learned a lot today," Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. "We didn't put up nearly enough resistance on the defensive end, and we tried to finesse shots and create shots at the rim rather than just going in and taking what the defense was giving us."

Luke Zeller came off the bench to collect 10 points and 12 boards for Notre Dame. Tom Pritchard led Indiana with 14 and six rebounds.