CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Rion Brown scored 21 points to lead Miami to a 71-64 victory over Notre Dame on Wednesday night.
The Hurricanes (13-13, 4-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) built a 15-point lead early in the second half and withstood a late Irish rally in the final 5 minutes.
Notre Dame cut Miami's lead to 65-64 on Demetrius Jackson's layup with 22 seconds remaining.
Brown's two free throws with 21 seconds left put Miami ahead 67-64. Then Raphael Akpejiori added two free throws after he was fouled rebounding a Jackson miss.
Garrius Adams scored 14 points and Davon Reed finished with 12 points for the Hurricanes.
Manu Lecomte's driving jumper with 57 seconds remaining put Miami ahead 63-56 but the Irish got within 63-62 after consecutive 3-pointers by Pat Connaughton and Steve Vasturia.
Connaughton scored 22 points and made 6 of 7 3-pointers for Notre Dame (14-13, 5-9).
Brown's 3-pointer with 15:42 remaining in the second half extended a 12-point Miami lead at halftime to 49-34.
The Hurricanes never trailed after a 13-0 run midway through the first half. Adams' jumper capped the surge and gave Miami a 24-10 lead. Tom Knight's 3-pointer ended a field-goal scoring drought of 5:25 for the Irish and cut Miami's lead to 25-14. Erik Swoope's jumper with 59 seconds left gave the Hurricanes their largest lead of the first half at 38-23.
Miami shot 62 percent from the field in the first half.
The game was Miami's first conference win at home this season after six previous losses.
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