Mar. 18, 1997

Irish Advance to NIT Quarterfinals

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Pat Garrity scored 20 points and PeteMiller added 16 as Notre Dame jumped out to an early lead and coastedto an 82-72 defeat of Texas Christian in a second-round NationalInvitation Tournament matchup.

Notre Dame (16-13) will host the winner of the Michigan-OklahomaState contest Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST. The Fighting Irish opened a10-point lead midway through the first half and were never threatened.

“Sixteen games is the most anyone on this team has won,” Garritysaid. “I’m just happy to be a part of this.”

“Everything came together for us tonight,” Miller said. “It’s the last go-around for the four seniors and we’re trying toenjoy it.”

Damion Walker had 16 points and Mike Jones added 15 as TCU endedits season at 22-13. The Horned Frogs have dropped all five meetingswith Notre Dame.

Notre Dame led 13-10 just over six minutes into the contest whenthey went on an 8-2 run. Derek Manner, who finished with 12 points,sparked the burst with a layup and Garrity then hit a pair of basketsfor a 19-12 advantage. David Lalazarian capped the spurt with abasket and TCU never got closer than six the rest of the way.

“There were a lot of instances where we had fast breakopportunities,” Notre Dame coach John MacLeod said. “Derek Manner hadsome dunks. It was a solid effort. We had four players in doublefigures and a minimal number of turnovers.”

Phil Hickey had 13 points, on 6-of-7 shooting, and 12 rebounds forNotre Dame, which made 19-of-35 shots in the second half.

TCU made just 10-of-44 shots in the first half and finished thegame 8-of-27 from three-point range.

“We couldn’t get shots falling in the first half and I wassurprised we were still within 12 the way we played in the first,” TCUcoach Billy Tubbs said. “That’s as bad offensively as I’ve seen usplay in a long time.”

TCU (72)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpJohnson         38  4-17   1-4   0-4  2  3   11Davis           19   1-2   0-0   2-9  0  2    2Walker          37  6-16   4-7   3-8  1  3   16Fowler          19   4-8   0-0   2-4  2  0   10Jones           35  5-19   2-2  9-15  7  2   14Burks           12   0-4   1-2   0-0  0  2    1Jacobs          14   3-6   0-0   0-0  2  0    8Penny           18   4-7   0-0   1-4  1  4    8Tuialii          8   1-3   0-0   1-1  0  1    2_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 28-82  8-15 18-45 15 17   72_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.341, FT-.533. 3-Point Goals:8-27, .296 (Johnson 2-9, Fowler 2-4, Jones 2-7,Burks 0-2, Jacobs 2-3, Penny 0-1, Tuialii 0-1).Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 3 (Penny 2,Walker). Turnovers: 10 (Jones 3, Jacobs 2, Walker2, Burks, Davis, Penny). Steals: 6 (Jacobs 3,Johnson, Jones, Penny).NOTRE DAME (82)                      fg    ft    rb               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tpManner          27   6-8   0-0   2-4  4  4   12Garrity         35  9-19   2-2   0-6  6  3   20Hickey          31   6-7   1-2  4-12  3  2   13White           34  4-14   1-3   0-7  9  2    9Miller          29   5-6   1-2   0-4  1  2   16Wyche           10   0-2   0-0   0-1  2  0    0Lalazarian      13   2-7   3-7   0-1  0  0    7Friel            7   1-2   0-0   0-1  2  0    3Gotsch          11   1-5   0-0   2-6  0  2    2Young            3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0_______________________________________________TOTALS         200 34-70  8-16  8-42 27 15   82_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.486, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:6-19, .316 (Garrity 0-4, White 0-5, Miller 5-6,Wyche 0-1, Lalazarian 0-1, Friel 1-2). Teamrebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 5 (Gotsch 2, Hickey,Garrity, Young). Turnovers: 12 (White 3, Garrity2, Manner 2, Miller 2, Gotsch, Hickey, Wyche).Steals: 4 (White 2, Friel, Manner).__________________________________Tcu                23   49  -   72Notre Dame         35   47  -   82__________________________________Technical fouls: Tcu 1 (Team).  A: 6,927.Officials: Norm Nelson, Tim Fogarty, TerryAnderson.