Notre Dame Starts Fast, Rips Cornell

Pat Garrity led four Irish in double figures Saturday as Notre Dame downed Cornell 84-53.

Garrity also had a team-high six rebounds. Keith Kurowski had 14 points and Pete Miller and Jason Williams each chipped in 13 for Notre Dame (6-3).

Miller was also perfect from long-range, canning three of three three-pointers.

Notre Dame started fast, racing to a 12-2 first period lead. But Cornell came back and trailed just 37-35 at halftime.

“We felt like it was going to be easy,” Irish Coach John MacLeod said of his team’s first period let down. “We may have gotten a bit full of ourselves.”

But the Irish turned it up a notch after the break, shooting 44 percent from the floor and hitting five of seven three-pointers in the second half.

“‘We were able to wear them down, sustain our defense and break it open,” said MacLeod.

Cornell (3-5) shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half, but managed only 32 percent after the break. Cornell was paced by Brandt Schuckman with 11 points. Brian Kopf pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.