SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody wasn’t going to sweat out a victory on a night he scored his 2,000th career point.
The senior forward led the Irish to an 80-70 victory over Idaho State with 27 points and 12 rebounds.
Harangody entered Tuesday’s game at Purcell Pavilion with 1,998 career points. He reached the 2,000 plateau 22 seconds into the game on a jumper.
“It’s one thing I never thought would happen in my career here,” Harangody said of his milestone.
Harangody is the first player in Notre Dame history to have 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his career. He grabbed his 1,000th rebound in an 80-62 win over Kennesaw State on Nov. 24.
Harangody has 2,025 career points, moving him past Troy Murphy (2,011) on the school’s all-time scoring list. He has 1,031 career rebounds.
“It is staggering, really,” coach Mike Brey said of Harangody’s numbers.
“I never want to take it for granted because it sure does make things easy when a guy can get you 27 (points) and 12 (rebounds) every night.”
Harangody also led the decisive charge to start the second half to secure the win for Notre Dame (7-1).
He scored nine of the Irish’s first 12 points after halftime and tossed an ally-oop pass to Carlton Scott, who made one-handed grab behind his head to score, as Notre Dame took a 52-42 lead with 14:48 to play.
“(Harangody) was lighting a fire,” guard Tory Jackson said.
“He got us going on the offensive end, and on the defensive end, he got stops.”
The Irish entered the second half with a 40-37 lead but went on a 25-7 run to start the half to take a 65-44 lead with 9:11 to play.
Notre Dame went to a more ball-pressure defense in the second after Idaho State (2-5) gave the Irish all they could handle in the first half.
“We picked up our man a little more and pressure them,” said Ben Hansbrough, who scored 14.
“We did that, executed and it worked out for us.”
The Irish and Bengals traded the lead 12 times in the first half.
There were also five ties in the first half.
Demetrius Monroe scored 18 for the Bengals, and Broderick Gilchrest and Kilpatrick each scored 12.
The Bengals shot 55.2 percent in the half as the Irish shot 53.3 percent.
“When you get layups like that, of course you are going to shoot 50 percent,” Jackson said of the Bengals in the first half.
“In the second half, we did a good job of helping each other out (on defense).”
