#12 Notre Dame Sends Home #13 Pitt on Last-Second Free Throw; Advances to ACC Tournament Second Round

Notre Dame’s season will live on for, at least, one more day as they sent home Pitt on Tuesday in a 55-54 victory that came down to the very last second. 

Photo via Notre Dame Athletics

The Irish owned the first ten minutes of the game, holding a ten-point lead with 9:49 remaining in the half. Notre Dame opened the contest on a 6-0 run led by Nikita Konstantynovskyi and held the Panthers scoreless for the first 3:35. After a Konstantynovskyi hookshot extended the Irish lead to ten, 20-10, Pitt finished the half on a 12-5 run to cut their deficit to 25-22 at halftime. No one scored in the final two minutes of this half as Notre Dame maintained their advantage. Pitt’s Jaland Lowe led all first-half scorers with nine points. The Irish were paced by Konstantynovskyi and Matt Allocco, who each contributed six points in the half. 

The first twenty minutes were a tough watch as both teams struggled offensively. They each shot well under 40% from the field and 20% from three in the half. Notre Dame’s ability to out-rebound the Panthers, led by the duo of Konstantynovskyi and Allocco, and secure those second-chance points were keys to their first-half lead.

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Notre Dame and Pitt traded baskets in the first three minutes out of the break, with a Konstantynovskyi layup extending the Irish lead to 31-26. Pitt then compiled a 6-0 run from a trio of Panthers to put them on top 32-31 with 14:06 on the clock. Pitt’s Zack Austin one-upped a Markus Burton layup with a three to give the Panthers a two-point, 35-33, lead with 13:21 remaining. Following a Sir Mohammed layup that tied the game up, Pitt scored four unanswered to push their lead to four, 39-35 with 10:50 to play. Following some back-and-forth, the Irish found four unanswered points of their own, tying the game at 41 with 8:33 left in the half. Following another pair of traded baskets, Pitt’s Lowe went on a 4-0 run, again pushing the Panthers lead back to four, 47-43, with 3:54 to play. The Irish responded with a 5-0 run to retake the lead, 48-47, with 2:52 left. Both sides then traded some points before Pitt’s Brandin Cummings buried a three with 1:09 remaining to put the Panthers up 54-52. With 49 seconds left, Konstantynovskyi tapped in his own miss to re-tie the game. With the ball and a tie game in the last possession, Burton missed a pull-up jumper but Tae Davis found the offensive rebound and was fouled on the put-back attempt with under one second remaining. At the line, Davis knocked down the game-winner to secure the Irish’s 55-54 ACC Tournament First Round win. 

In the second half, Pitt’s Cameron Corhen led all scorers with 10 points on 5-5 shooting from the field. Davis led the Irish offense with nine points in the half, including the game-winning free throw. Burton struggled from the field but still contributed eight points in the half. Both teams shot better in this half compared to the first, but it was clear the deep-ball was not falling today, with the sides combining 3-14 from three in the second half. The Irish’s dominance in the paint was again a key in this half as they outrebounded the Panthers once more. 

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Notre Dame’s ACC Tournament journey continues Wednesday against the five-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels at 2:30 local time.

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