Notre Dame holds off Pujals, Loyola

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1/13/12. Niles. Notre Dame's Eddie Serrano blocks the path of Loyola's Jack Richmond. Loyola took on Notre Dame at Notre Dame High School. | Tracy Allen~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 20, 2012 8:11AM

Loyola junior Peter Pujals was driving to the basket, hoping to keep the Ramblers’ upset dreams alive against host Notre Dame on Friday.

He was trying to tie the game with 23 seconds to play, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Notre Dame junior Matt Mooney knocked the ball away to teammate Donte Stephenson, and the Dons drained three of four free throws from there on to seal a 50-45 victory.

“I saw him driving — he had the ball out in front of him — and I took advantage and grabbed it,” Mooney said.

Loyola had another chance to tie it after the steal, but Richie Wehman’s layup rimmed out with six seconds to play.

Sophomore Jack Morrissey had a breakout performance for Loyola, scoring 22 points on 6-for-8 shooting. He was 5-for-6 on three-point attempts, not missing one until late in the fourth quarter.

“Jack Morrissey is a great player,” said Loyola coach Tom Livatino. “He has yet to scratch the surface. Our guys need to do a better job of getting him the ball. He should have more than eight shots.”

Stephenson led a balanced Dons effort with 10 points. Joe Ferrici scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Mooney scored nine points, and Duante Stephens and Eddie Serrano each added seven for Notre Dame (13-4 overall).

“Mooney’s steal was a big play,” said Notre Dame coach Tom Les. “I have to give Loyola a lot of credit; they played awfully well.”

Chris Sullivan and Pujals each scored six points for the Ramblers (6-10), who lack a post presence.

“They don’t look too intimidating — that could have been an issue in the first half,” Mooney said. “So yeah, we probably took them a little lightly at the beginning. We can’t do that.”

Loyola led 24-20 at the half, but the Dons opened the third quarter with a 13-3 run to open a six-point lead.

“We are getting better and I’m proud of our guys,” Livatino said. “Obviously, when a team has a lot of bigs, it’s a nightmare matchup for us.”