January 5, 1999
By JR ROSS
Associated Press Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Troy Murphy scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Irish beat Pittsburgh 87-64 Tuesday night, Notre Dame’s largest margin of victory in a Big East game in school history.
Murphy, who was 0-for-11 in his last conference game against Syracuse, regained his shooting touch after opening the game 1-for-4 and scored in double figures for the 12th time this season. His 30 points tied his career high, as did his five assists.
Pittsburgh (8-6 overall, 0-4 Big East) led 33-27 with just over 2:00 left in the first half before Notre Dame (8-6, 2-1) closed to within 36-34 at the break.
Notre Dame’s run continued in the second half after Phil Hickey converted a 3-point play to begin a 16-6 run as the Irish went up 62-48.
Ricardo Greer temporarily stopped the onslaught with a jumper, but the Irish started another push, this time a 13-4 spurt that put them up 75-52 on Hickey’s layup with 7:25 left.
The Irish added another 9-4 run to go up 86-59 for the largest lead of the game.
David Graves finished with 21 points for the Irish, while Hickey added 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Pittsburgh, which shot 45 percent in the first half, was just 8-of-21 until Greer converted a 3-point play with 6:16 left.
Vonteego Cummings scored 17 points to lead the Panthers, who only got two points from their bench and extended their conference losing streak to four games. Jarrett Lockhart added 15.