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Guy, Hunter lead No. 4 Virginia past Notre Dame, 60-54

Kyle Guy, Johnn Mooney

Virginia guard Kyle Guy (5) goes up for a shot as Notre Dame forward John Mooney (33) defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

AP

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Kyle Guy scored 22 points, De’Andre Hunter had 20 with 10 rebounds and No. 4 Virginia withstood a late push by Notre Dame to win 60-54 on Saturday.

Hunter scored six points during a 9-0 run for the Cavaliers (22-2, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) after the Fighting Irish closed to within 45-44 with 8:12 left.

But Notre Dame (13-12, 3-9) then went more than five minutes without a point as Hunter scored inside and hit four free throws. Guy added a 3-pointer and it was 54-44 with less than five minutes to play.

T.J. Gibbs scored 17 and D.J. Harvey had 10 for Notre Dame. Gibbs scored Notre Dame’s first 10 points and was the only Irish player to score until Harvey’s basket with 6:41 left in the first half.

Notre Dame closed to within 54-50 when Virginia went scoreless for more than four minutes after a pair of free throws by Hunter with 4:55 left. The Irish called timeout with 41 seconds left, and when Virginia inbounded the ball to Guy, Nate Laszewski stole it and scored with 34.5 seconds left, making it 54-52 and prompting a timeout by the Cavaliers. After Virginia inbounded, Guy was fouled and made both ends of a 1-and-1. A dunk by John Mooney for the Irish and two more free throws by Guy finished it off for the Cavaliers.

Virginia led just 29-25 at halftime but looked poised to pull away after a 10-3 run early in the second half gave the Cavaliers a 39-30 lead. The Irish responded with a 10-2 surge as Laszewski scored seven of the 10 points. That pulled them within 41-40 with just under 11 minutes to play and the Cavaliers never relinquished the lead, but also struggled to get much separation.

BIG PICTURE

Notre Dame: The Irish nearly pulled off a stunning upset against a Virginia team that hadn’t played since Monday and shot the ball poorly. Notre Dame’s zone defense disrupted Virginia’s rhythm. The Cavaliers won 82-55 when the teams played in South Bend, Indiana, on Jan. 26.

Virginia: The Cavaliers had uncharacteristically averaged 13.5 turnovers in their past four games, but cleaned that up, at least in the first half when they had no turnovers. They did cough it up eight times in the second half and were outscored 9-1 in points off turnovers for the game.