Mar. 18, 1997
Irish Advance to NIT Quarterfinals
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Pat Garrity scored 20 points and Pete Miller added 16 as Notre Dame jumped out to an early lead and coasted to an 82-72 defeat of Texas Christian in a second-round National Invitation Tournament matchup.
Notre Dame (16-13) will host the winner of the Michigan-Oklahoma State contest Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST. The Fighting Irish opened a 10-point lead midway through the first half and were never threatened.
"Sixteen games is the most anyone on this team has won," Garrity said. "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 to enjoy it."
Damion Walker had 16 points and Mike Jones added 15 as TCU ended its season at 22-13. The Horned Frogs have dropped all five meetings with Notre Dame.
Notre Dame led 13-10 just over six minutes into the contest when they 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 baskets for a 19-12 advantage. David Lalazarian capped the spurt with a basket and TCU never got closer than six the rest of the way.
"There were a lot of instances where we had fast break opportunities," Notre Dame coach John MacLeod said. "Derek Manner had some dunks. It was a solid effort. We had four players in double figures and a minimal number of turnovers."
Phil Hickey had 13 points, on 6-of-7 shooting, and 12 rebounds for Notre Dame, which made 19-of-35 shots in the second half.
TCU made just 10-of-44 shots in the first half and finished the game 8-of-27 from three-point range.
"We couldn't get shots falling in the first half and I was surprised we were still within 12 the way we played in the first," TCU coach Billy Tubbs said. "That's as bad offensively as I've seen us play in a long time."
TCU (72)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Johnson 38 4-17 1-4 0-4 2 3 11
Davis 19 1-2 0-0 2-9 0 2 2
Walker 37 6-16 4-7 3-8 1 3 16
Fowler 19 4-8 0-0 2-4 2 0 10
Jones 35 5-19 2-2 9-15 7 2 14
Burks 12 0-4 1-2 0-0 0 2 1
Jacobs 14 3-6 0-0 0-0 2 0 8
Penny 18 4-7 0-0 1-4 1 4 8
Tuialii 8 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 1 2
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TOTALS 200 28-82 8-15 18-45 15 17 72
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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, Walker
2, 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 tp
Manner 27 6-8 0-0 2-4 4 4 12
Garrity 35 9-19 2-2 0-6 6 3 20
Hickey 31 6-7 1-2 4-12 3 2 13
White 34 4-14 1-3 0-7 9 2 9
Miller 29 5-6 1-2 0-4 1 2 16
Wyche 10 0-2 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Lalazarian 13 2-7 3-7 0-1 0 0 7
Friel 7 1-2 0-0 0-1 2 0 3
Gotsch 11 1-5 0-0 2-6 0 2 2
Young 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 34-70 8-16 8-42 27 15 82
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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). Team
rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 5 (Gotsch 2, Hickey,
Garrity, Young). Turnovers: 12 (White 3, Garrity
2, Manner 2, Miller 2, Gotsch, Hickey, Wyche).
Steals: 4 (White 2, Friel, Manner).
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Tcu 23 49 - 72
Notre Dame 35 47 - 82
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Technical fouls: Tcu 1 (Team). A: 6,927.
Officials: Norm Nelson, Tim Fogarty, Terry
Anderson.
