MIAMI, Fla. -- Coaches like to say practice pays off, and 17th-ranked Miami's 79-70 victory over Notre Dame Wednesday night showed how big that payoff can be.

Freshman guard Anthony Lawrence, who had played only four minutes in the previous three games and not at all against Duke a week earlier, came off the bench to score a season-high 18 points, thanks mostly to a season-high four 3-pointers, to spark the Hurricanes (17-4, 6-3 ACC) past the Fighting Irish (15-7, 6-4).

"I am very, very proud of Anthony Lawrence Jr.," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. "We call him 'Amp.' Amp had gone through a period where he was not playing at all or not much, and in the last few practices he was terrific."

Lawrence took the role as point guard for Miami's scout team to simulate Notre Dame guard Demetrius Jackson's game.

"He did one heckuva imitation that I felt like if he can handle the ball like that against Angel Rodriguez, he gives us another weapon I felt like we could really use," Larranaga said.

Lawrence came off the bench at the 12:32 mark of the first half and had 11 of his points and three of his 3-pointers before the halftime break.

"I've been playing good all week in practice and once I saw the first one go down I had the confidence already," he said, "so I just kept shooting and my teammates kept finding me in open spots."

He then blocked two Notre Dame shots in the first two minutes of the second half to add to a statistical line that showed up 5 of 6 from the field overall, 4 of 4 on 3-pointers, and 4 of 5 from the free throw line.

"He was fabulous," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "He really hurt us. It's one of those things you say maybe you can live with him getting some looks and you're worried about the other guys, and he jumps up and really hurts you."

Miami also had four other players in double figures with guards Sheldon McClellan, Ja'Quan Newton and Rodriguez scoring 12 each and forward Kamari Murphy scoring 11.

Miami went to the locker room up 45-33 at the break and stretched its margin to as many as 20 points through the first 12 minutes of the second half before the visitors began cutting into the deficit.

The Irish were able the reduce the gap to 11 points, 79-68, in the final minute but could get no closer until guard Rex Pflueger's layup with two seconds remaining.

"We've been there before in a lot of situations," said forward Bonzie Colson, who led the Irish with 17 points off the bench. "We were calm, collected and confident we would be able to come back.

"They hit big shots and we didn't defend when we needed to defend. With a team like Miami you're going to need to come out defending and get stops."

In addition to Colson's 17 points, forward B.J. Beachem scored 14 and forward Zach Auguste 12 for the Irish.

The two teams virtually traded baskets through much of the first half until Miami closed out the final four minutes of period on a 13-4 run.

The Hurricanes shot a red hot 63 percent from the field (17 of 27) to Notre Dame's 50 percent (14 of 28) through the first 20 minutes. The Hurricanes were able to keep it up in the second half, canning 14 of their 28 attempts to end the game shooting 56.4 percent, the 11th time this season and second time in their last three games they topped the 50 percent mark.

The Irish cooled a big in the second half, going 17 of 39, and finished the game shooting 46.3 percent.

"We just couldn't get enough on the defensive end to make it interesting," Brey said. "I think you have to give them credit."

NOTES: This was the first of two meetings between Miami and Notre Dame in the regular season. The rematch will be at Notre Dame on March 2. ... Miami G Sheldon McClellan has been named one of 10 finalists for the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award. At 51.7 percent, he has the 12th-best shooting percentage among guards in the country through games of Jan. 31. He also is on the list for two other national awards, the Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year and the Oscar Robertson Trophy for the Men's National Player of the Year. ... Irish G Demetrius Jackson is one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard. Coming into the Miami game, he was averaging 16.5 points and 5.2 assists per game.