Vermont Vermont/Notre Dame Notre Dame Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

After going nearly nine years without having three 20-point scorers in a game, the Irish did it for a second straight time as Troy Murphy and David Graves scored 21 points each Thursday night and Ryan Humphrey had 20 in a 96-86 victory over Vermont.

The Irish (7-2) have scored at least 96 points four times this season.

Despite all that scoring, the Irish could never quite put away the Catamounts (4-5), despite starting the game with a 14-0 run. Defensive lapses and poor free throw shooting allowed Vermont to stay close, but not too close.

"We still have to defend around the basket and defensive rebound and get loose balls better," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "We're a heck of an offensive team and for the most part we're going to have to outscore people.

"We've still got to be able to scratch and claw and get some loose stuff around the basket. That's the area where I'm really concerned as we get closer to the Big East."

Murphy said he's not worried, the Irish will play solid defense when they're pushed.

"I think it will come when we're really threatened, when we're threatened with (Syracuse's) Preston Shumpert running off screens, hitting 3s, I think we're really going to really buckle down like we did against Cincinnati and teams like that. I think we're going to step up our defense. We've played some teams that are good teams, but I don't think we've been threatened as much."

The Irish buckled down and made free throws down the stretch against Vermont.

After making just nine of their first 21 free throws in the game, the Irish were 10-of-14 down the stretch.

After making 72.8 percent of their free throws through the first six games, the Irish are shooting only 44.5 percent their last three. Brey said he's going to let the players figure out what's wrong.

"I don't want to get into mechanics or changing guys' mechanics," he said.

The Irish led by as many as 19, 71-52, when Murphy had a tip-in with 9:01 left, but Vermont was able to keep the lead between 10 and 15 down the stretch.

The Irish started the game with a big burst.

"From that point on it was a dead-even game," Vermont coach Tom Brennan said. "It's a loss, but it's a tremendous building block for us. And it's a big check in my pocket and I'm happy going home.

Tony Orciari led the Catamounts with 27 points, making a career-high seven 3-pointers on 14 attempts.

"I made some hard cuts, got some screens from my teammates and was able to knock them down," Orciari said.

T.J. Sorrentine added 22 points, Trevor Gaines had 13 and Matt Sheftic 12.

Matt Carroll added 15 points for the Irish. Murphy had 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season and 36th of his career. Murphy also had a career-high six assists.

Humphrey said he wasn't surprised to see the Irish have three 20-point scorers again.

"I believe by the time the year's over we'll have four or five 20-point scorers in a game with all the weapons we have," he said. "When we're clicking, we're a tough team to beat."

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Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Vermont Clubhouse

Notre Dame Clubhouse