Jan. 25, 1997

Irish Can’t Get Over Mountain At West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.— West Virgina held off a furious second half Irish rally for a thrilling67-66 victory in front of 12,621 spectators in Morgantown, W.Va.

Pat Garrity poured in a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds andAdmore White and three-point specialist Pete Miller each scored 15, but18 Notre Dame (9-8 overall, 3-6 Big East) turnovers, which the Mountaineers converted into 25points, were too much for the Irish to overcome.

It was Notre Dame’s fifth loss in its last seven games.

Damian Owens led West Virginia (11-5, 5-4) with 25 points, including hitting 6-6 from the line.

NOTRE DAME (66)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpGarrity         38  9-16   4-4   1-7  2  4   22Manner          29   1-6   1-2   3-5  2  3    3Gotsch          20   3-4   0-0   2-5  0  4    6White           37   6-9   1-1   1-5  7  3   15Miller          28  6-13   0-0   1-2  3  3   15Hickey          15   1-1   1-1   2-6  0  3    3Wyche           12   0-2   0-0   0-1  1  0    0Bell            11   0-4   0-0   0-1  0  1    0Young            7   0-0   0-0   1-2  0  0    0Dillon           3   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    2_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 27-57   7-8 11-34 15 21   66_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.474, FT-.875. 3-Point Goals:5-18, .278 (Garrity 0-3, White 2-3, Miller 3-9,Wyche 0-1, Bell 0-1, Dillon 0-1). Team rebounds:3. Blocked shots: 3 (Gotsch 3). Turnovers: 18(White 6, Garrity 3, Dillon 2, Manner 2, Young 2,Miller, Wyche). Steals: 8 (Miller 3, Hickey 2,White 2, Manner).WEST VIRGINIA (67)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpOwens           37  9-17   6-6   3-8  3  3   25Solheim         32   3-5   2-2   1-3  1  4    8Varejao         23   3-8   2-4   2-3  0  1    8Jefferson       29   1-8   2-4   0-2  2  0    5West            27   2-7   0-0   0-2  2  2    4Pledger         20   4-6   3-4   1-1  0  1   11Malone          20   0-5   1-2   5-9  1  2    1Liguori          5   1-2   2-3   1-1  0  1    5Lewin            4   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0Jones            2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0Goree            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  2    0_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 23-58 18-25 13-29  9 16   67_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.397, FT-.720. 3-Point Goals:3-15, .200 (Owens 1-3, Jefferson 1-5, West 0-4,Malone 0-1, Liguori 1-2). Team rebounds: 3.Blocked shots: 3 (Malone 2, Solheim). Turnovers:12 (Solheim 3, Malone 2, Owens 2, Goree,Jefferson, Lewin, Varejao, West). Steals: 8(Owens 4, West 2, Jefferson, Pledger).__________________________________Notre Dame         25   41  -   66West Virginia      32   35  -   67__________________________________Technical fouls: None.  A: 12,621. Officials:Mike Kitts, John Corbett, Rick Hartzell.