SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Big plays are nothing new for Troy Murphy, Notre Dame's big man and big scorer.

These days, though, everyone's getting in on the act for the Irish.

Jimmy Dillon contributed a key three-point play as Notre Dame finished the game with a 17-2 run Saturday for a 73-60 win over St. John's (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today, No. 25 AP).

Dillon tipped away a pass, recovered the loose ball and made a thunderous slam dunk. He added the foul shot for a 61-58 lead.

"I anticipated the ball a little and got my hand on it. We talked about it in the locker room as being a really big play," Dillon said.

Murphy scored 30 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as Notre Dame (13-8, 4-3 Big East) beat a ranked team for the fourth time this season.

"Jimmy has some nerve," said Murphy, Notre Dame's 6-foot-9 sophomore forward. "He surprised me with the dunk. He has been telling me he was going to tune someone up and dunk it sometime. That is what won us the game."

Bootsy Thornton made three straight 3-pointers, and his assist on Lavor Postell's basket gave St. John's its last lead at 58-56 with 4:40 remaining. But it was a reliance on the 3-pointer that hurt the Red Storm, coach Mike Jarvis said.

St. John's (13-8, 4-3) attempted 29 long-range shots, almost half their total attempts from the field, but made only seven.

"That's really not our game," Jarvis said. "It is totally out of our character. I have always felt that the 3-point shot is fool's gold and tonight we went after fool's gold."

St. John's was led by 15 points each by Erick Barkley and Thornton.

Notre Dame, playing before the biggest home crowd (11,418) in almost two years, led most of the second half before eight straight points gave St. John's its final lead.

Freshman Matt Carroll tied it with 2:19 to go, and Dillon then anticipated the ball as St. John's passed it around the perimeter.

"Every play is a big play," Jarvis said. "but that play occurred at an important time of the game. It certainly was the key."

Postell said St. John's is "losing some tough games this year. But you learn from games like this. You hate losing but the main thing is we learn from our mistakes and hopefully get into our game plan on Monday."

Carroll finished with 10 points and Dillon added nine for the Irish. Murphy's 30 points put him past 1,000 for his career.