Brey's T fires up Irish

A SELF-PROFESSED "raving lunatic" while watching his team score only three points over the first 13:54 of the game, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey wasn't considering the potential consequences when he gave referee John Gaffney an earful.

"I was just so frustrated," Brey said. " . . . He probably could have thrown me out, because I stayed after him, and he looked away, so I thank him for that."

The No. 25 Irish might want to thank Brey for the resulting dramatic swing of momentum after an atrocious shooting start.

Jerian Grant and Jack Cooley scored 13 points each and visiting Notre Dame overcome a horrendous shooting start and beat No. 20 Pittsburgh, 51-42, on Monday night.

The Irish missed 18 of their first 19 shots and trailed 19-3 after two free throws by Tray Woodall - resulting from Brey's technical.

But Notre Dame closed out the first half on a 16-3 run and continued to ride the momentum in the second half to win going away.

"I don't know, how much is it premeditated? I thought on some of our drives, we were getting bumped a little bit," Brey said of drawing the technical. "Sometimes, that does change the vibe."

Eric Atkins added 10 points and seven assists for Notre Dame (21-6, 9-5 Big East), which has won five in a row over Pittsburgh (20-7, 8-6) and snapped a tie with the Panthers for fourth place in the conference. The top four teams get a double-bye in next month's league tournament.

Woodall had 11 points to lead the Panthers, who lost for the second time in 3 days since winning seven of eight.

At Kansas State, Will Spradling scored 19 points and the No. 14 Wildcats (21-5, 10-3) beat West Virginia, 71-61.

* At Lehigh, Bryson Johnson scored 19 points as Bucknell (22-5, 9-2 Patriot League) defeated the Mountain Hawks, 61-55. Holden Greiner and Mackey McKnight led Lehigh (18-7, 8-3) with 17 points each.

Former North Carolina State coach Sidney Lowe was arrested Monday and charged with failing to file his North Carolina state income taxes for the final 3 years he coached the Wolfpack.

Lowe, currently an NBA assistant with Utah, was booked and released on a $10,000 unsecured bond on the misdemeanor charges.

* California coach Mike Montgomery was reprimanded by the Pac-12 for shoving guard Allen Crabbe in the chest over nonchalant play during a game on Sunday against USC. The conference did not announce what specific punishment Montgomery received for his actions, although he will not be suspended.

Crabbe had to be forcibly restrained by teammates and briefly left the court before coming back and leading a comeback victory for the Golden Bears.

* Former Duke star Phil Henderson has died at age 44 at his home in the Philippines, according to the university. Henderson was a senior captain and the leading scorer on the 1989-90 team that lost to UNLV in the national championship game.