Jan. 29, 1997

Pitt Shoots Down Notre Dame

PITTSBURGH — Vonteego Cummings scored 16 points in the first half,12 on 3-pointers, as the hot-shooting Panthers raced out to a big early lead onthe way to a 88-64 BIG EAST victory at Civic Arena Wednesday night.

Cummings, who finished with 19 points, hit all four of his 3-point attemptsin the first half as Pitt took a commanding 43-29 lead. Kellii Taylor led Pittwith 20 and added six steals.

The Panthers (11-9, 5-4) connected on 7-of-11 shots (.636) from beyond the arc inthe first half and 16-of-23 (.696) in the game.

Matt Gotsch scored 14 points to lead Notre Dame (9-9, 3-7). Pat Garrityfinished with 12 points, nine below his average.

The 24-point defeat equaled the worst Notre Dame has suffered this season.The Irish also lost by 24 points to Kentucky on Dec. 14.

Notre Dame sophomore Antoni Wyche tied his career high with 10 points offthe bench.

Pittsburgh, which was coming off an 18-point win over Georgetown onSaturday, committed only six turnovers and shot .508 from the floor.

Notre Dame made 18-of-19 free throws in the second half.

NOTRE DAME (64)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpManner          18   2-4   0-0   1-2  1  1    4Garrity         29  4-13   2-2   3-6  1  2   12Gotsch          24   5-7   4-4   2-6  0  2   14White           27   1-4   0-0   0-3  5  1    2Miller          19   1-5   1-1   0-1  0  3    3Wyche           20   2-3   6-6   0-0  0  2   10Lalazarian      10   1-3   2-2   1-1  0  0    4Bell            12   1-4   1-2   1-2  3  0    4Friel            7   0-2   2-2   0-1  2  0    2Dillon           6   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  0    0Young           12   1-2   1-2   1-5  0  1    3Hickey          16   3-3   0-0   0-1  0  2    6_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 21-50 19-21  9-28 13 14   64_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.420, FT-.905. 3-Point Goals:3-16, .188 (Garrity 2-5, White 0-2, Miller 0-1,Wyche 0-1, Lalazarian 0-1, Bell 1-3, Friel 0-2,Young 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 4(Gotsch 3, Young). Turnovers: 23 (Garrity 5,Wyche 4, Bell 3, White 3, Gotsch 2, Hickey 2,Miller 2, Dillon, Manner). Steals: 10 (Friel 2,Miller 2, White 2, Bell, Gotsch, Hickey, Wyche).PITTSBURGH (88)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpMaile           26   5-7   2-2   0-2  1  2   17Varga           22   3-9   2-2   0-2  1  2    9Blount          26   4-8   0-0   3-9  3  4    8Cummings        35   7-9   0-0   3-6  7  2   19Taylor          27  7-13   2-4   0-1  3  2   20Gardella         2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    0Lockhart        13   2-6   0-0   1-3  0  1    5Willard         17   0-0   0-0   0-0  6  1    0Jordan          17   3-8   0-0   3-4  0  3    6Murray           2   1-2   0-0   1-1  0  0    2Hawkins         13   1-2   0-0   0-1  0  1    2_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 33-65   6-8 11-29 21 19   88_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.508, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:16-23, .696 (Maile 5-5, Varga 1-3, Cummings 5-6,Taylor 4-6, Lockhart 1-2, Murray 0-1). Teamrebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 7 (Blount 4, Varga,Hawkins, Taylor). Turnovers: 19 (Cummings 7,Blount 4, Jordan 3, Gardella, Lockhart, Maile,Taylor, Willard). Steals: 13 (Taylor 6, Cummings3, Blount, Jordan, Varga, Willard).__________________________________Notre Dame         29   35  -   64Pittsburgh         43   45  -   88__________________________________Technical fouls: Notre Dame 1 (Team).  A: 13,240.Officials: John Cahill, Donnie Gray, TedValentine.