January 19, 1999
By JR ROSS
Associated Press Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Antoni Wyche scored 16 points and Phil Hickey had 15 as Notre Dame beat Seton Hall 59-56 Tuesday night.
Playing without injured leading scorer Troy Murphy, the Irish (10-9, 4-4 Big East) trailed by as many as seven points early in the second half before the two teams began exchanging the lead back and forth.
The Pirates (11-6, 5-3) led 42-41 with 10:12 left before the Irish went on a 10-1 run to take a 52-42 lead, the biggest advantage in the game for either team.
Seton Hall cut the deficit to 52-47 on Chuck Moore’s 3-pointer with 4:12 left, and another Moore 3 brought the Pirates to within 54-51 with 3:05 to play.
But with less than a minute left and Seton Hall down 56-53, Moore missed a game-tying 3-pointer from the wing, and Harold Swanagan was fouled on the other end with 11.2 seconds to play.
He missed both foul shots but grabbed his own rebound and was fouled again. He hit 1-of-2, and Wyche was fouled after he intercepted Seton Hall’s inbounds pass near midcourt.
Swanagan finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while David Graves had 12 for the Irish, playing on the 25th anniversary of Notre Dame’s 71-70 win over UCLA, which snapped the Bruins’ record 88-game winning streak.
Gary Saunders led Seton Hall with 15 points, while Moore finished with 11.
Notre Dame missed its first eight shots in the first half and was 8-of-29 from the field to go along with 12 turnovers. But the Irish cut their turnovers to seven in the second half and outshot the Pirates at the free throw line, hitting 16-of-27. Seton Hall was 5-of-8.
Seton Hall led 27-23 at halftime.