Notre Dame ends skid with victory over Purdue

INDIANAPOLIS – Notre Dame finally played the way coach Mike Brey wanted.

The Irish worked hard and shot well Saturday — and delivered a knockout punch too.

John Mooney scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and D.J. Harvey matched his careerhigh with 19 points to lead Notre Dame past Purdue 88-80 in the first game of the Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

“This is huge for us,” Brey said. “We lost to two good teams away from our building. If we go 0-3 we’re digging out of a hole for a while. If there are must-wins in December, we were staring at one today.”

The Irish (7-3) snapped a twogame losing streak by becoming the first in-state school to beat Purdue since February 2016. And though they never trailed over the final 35 minutes, it wasn’t easy.

One day after news that freshman Robby Carmody would miss the rest of this season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, the Irish suffered another big blow when senior Ref Pflueger crumpled to the floor with 5 minutes, 36 second to play, clutching his left knee. He was carried to the locker room and later returned to the bench with the knee packed in ice. He finished with seven points and a career-high 10 assists.

“It didn’t look good,” Brey said, adding that the starting guard will have an MRI this week.

Notre Dame made 11 of its first 14 shots and used a 12-2 spurt to take a 30-18 lead with 8:14 left in the first half. The Boilermakers (6-5) closed the half with a 7-2 run, cutting the deficit to 36-29, and got as close as 42-38 with 16:01 left