'Unbelievable night': ND wins Brey's home finale

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Hammond and Cormac Ryan each scored 20 points as Notre Dame won longtime coach Mike Brey’s final home game with an 88-81 victory over No. 25 Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

Nate Laszewski and Trey Wertz each added 14 points as the Fighting Irish (11-19, 3-16 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Brey, who is stepping down at season’s end and received warm ovations from the crowd before and after the game, improved to 315-76 at Purcell Pavilion over 23 years as Notre Dame coach.

“What an unbelievable night,” Brey said over the public address. “We defended pretty much the whole game. I thought we were good defensively. … It was neat for our seniors to finish like that.”

Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings and Nike Sibande all scored 19 points, and Blake Hinson added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Panthers (21-9, 14-5), who entered with wins in eight of their last nine games. Pitt was playing its first game since moving into the AP Top 25 for the first time in seven years.

“First and foremost, congrats to Notre Dame,” Panther coach Jeff Capel said. “They were terrific. I knew they would come out and be really inspired and emotional [with five grad players in their starting lineup], and obviously being the last game here for coach Brey.”

Pitt, the conference leader going in, had a chance to clinch at least a tie for its first ACC title across its 10 years in the league, but struggled with its shooting.

The Panthers finished 7 of 22 on 3-pointers and 20 of 36 at the line, while the Irish closed 10 of 27 and 26 of 31. “There’s a lot of things we didn’t do well,” Capel said, “but I love the fight that we had.”

Notre Dame led by a high of 61-41 at 11:49 remaining, after scoring the final 11 points of the first half for a 42-28 advantage at the break. Late-rallying Pitt got no closer than 84-79 at 38 seconds remaining.