After an extremely close first half, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish blowed things open in the second half of a 71-44 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Wednesday night. The Irish led by just two points going into halftime, but dominated defensively in the second half en route to a 25-point victory.
Holding the Mountaineers to just 16 points in the second half, Notre Dame easily pulled away with things working on the offensive end as well. The Fighting Irish were stunningly effective shooting from the field, making 65 percent of their shots, while they dominated on the other end while holding West Virginia to just 33 percent shooting from the field.
Notre Dame got big numbers from four players, as Jerian Grant led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. They also got 15 points from Scott Martin, as well as 13 points apiece from Jack Cooley and Eric Atkins, who also added eight assists, four rebounds and three steals on the night. Kevin Jones led West Virginia in scoring with 15 points, the only Mountaineer with more than ten points.
The Irish, ranked No. 20 in the nation, move to 20-8 on the season and 12-3 against Big East opponents. They've won nine consecutive games, with their last loss coming against Rutgers on Jan. 16.
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