By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Four different players tallied points, and the No. 4-seed West Virginia Mountaineers opened on a 10-0 run to take a 42-35 lead over No. 5-seed Notre Dame at halftime in NCAA Tournament second round West Region action at Key Bank Center.
Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles, Jr. drilled back-to-back three pointers as the Mountaineers connected on four of their first seven shots from the floor. Elijah Macon started the scoring in the lane and then fed teammate Esa Ahmad for another deuce.
West Virginia came into the game leading the nation forcing turnovers on 27.9 percent of possessions. Against the team leading nation in ball handling, the Mountaineers forced miscues on 27.3 percent of possessions through the first 13 minutes of play.
Notre Dame missed its first six shots of the game but connected on nine of their next 14 attempts to make it a one-possession game.
The Irish switched to an odd-front zone coming out of a timeout with 16:47 to go in the half and slowed West Virginia’s attack.
Matt Ryan came off the bench and knocked down a three on the break. Steve Vasturia followed with another triple early in the shot clock. T.J. Gibbs converted a pair from the free throw line, and Notre Dame trailed 32-29 with 4:31 to go in the half.
Macon and Miles both hit two from the charity stripe. Tarik Phillip finished a runner in the lane, and the Mountaineers pushed the advantage back to nine at 42-33.
Notre Dame’s Bonzie Colson hit twice from the free throw line for the halftime count.
West Virginia has outscored Notre Dame in the paint (18-6) and off turnovers (11-5).
Notre Dame came into the game committing 9.4 turnovers per game. The Fighting Irish had just six miscues in their first round win over Princeton. West Virginia forced 10 miscues.
Notre Dame came into the game committing turnovers on 13.8 percent of their possessions.
The winner will take on the Northwestern and Gonzaga winner in next weekend’s west 16.
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