Irish climb to bring down Mountaineers
BRIAN KESSLER
Sports Editor
Last night, the Irish looked more like mountaineers than West Virginia did.
Notre Dame was at the bottom of the hill, trailing 33-16 with 6:29 left in the first half and it was an uphill climb from there.
A 19-5 run by Notre Dame cut West Virginia's lead to just three points, but a Josh Yeager 3-pointer late in the first and a 10-5 run to open the second half had the Irish tumbling back down the mountain.
Notre Dame, however, responded with a 15-0 run of its own. Martin Ingelsby drained a 3-pointer with 10:40 to play and the Irish took a 55-51 lead.
West Virginia (12-7, 4-4) was unable to answer and Notre Dame (14-8, 5-3) eventually emerged at the peak with a 79-65 win.
"That was a gut check when we were down 17," Graves said. "We were able to come back and protect our home court."
"That was a heck of a win," first-year head coach Matt Doherty said. "I'm proud of our kids. They kept their composure when they were down 17. That's a big time win. I don't think people realize how good West Virginia is."
Four Irish players scored in double figures with Matt Carroll and Graves leading the way with 17 points.
"I haven't been shooting the ball very well, but I've still been playing well," Graves said. "Tonight I felt great and I hit some shots. I think the crowd really helped."
Troy Murphy turned in another solid performance with 16 points and center Harold Swanagan added 12.
"We had three keys to the game," Doherty said. "Get back in transition, stop [Marcus] Goree and have all five guys box out."
The Irish were able to accomplish all three. They forced West Virginia to take 35 three pointers, held Goree to just nine points and outrebounded the Mountaineers 36-26. Murphy, Graves and Swanagan each pulled down nine boards.
The Irish were able to knock down some key shots in the second half and outscored the Mountaineers by 20 points.
"We shot the lights out in the second half," Graves said. "When you have the type of players we have and the type of shooters we have, a double digit lead doesn't mean a whole lot."
The Irish shot 48 percent in the second half and an astounding 58 percent from beyond the arc. The Mountaineers made just 31 percent of its shots and 25 percent from downtown.
"We were more active in our zone and didn't want to let them shoot the three [in the second half]," Murphy said. "The crowd gave us a lot of energy down on that side of the floor and we were able to bounce around more and stop them."
Calvin Bowman led the way for West Virginia with 16 points. Josh Yeager and Lionel Armstead each had 12.
Jimmy Dillon had six assists for Notre Dame and Mike Monserez had four in just four minutes of play.
Notre Dame hits the road Saturday for a rematch with Pittsburgh before traveling to Villanova on Tuesday. The Irish finished the homestand with a 3-1 record.
"Three out of four is pretty good," Doherty said. "I'd like to have won all four but I realize how good Miami is and this whole league scares the mess out of you."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 3, 2000
