Notre Dame uses 2nd-half surge to down Pitt

Tae Davis scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting to help Notre Dame secure a much-needed 76-72 win over Pitt on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.

Markus Burton chipped in 20 points and Cole Certa added 12 for the Fighting Irish (12-15, 6-10 Atlantic Coast Conference), who avoided a third consecutive loss.

Ishmael Leggett netted 21 points and Cameron Corhen paired a season-high 20 points with seven rebounds to lead the Panthers. Jaland Lowe added 13 points and Guillermo Diaz Graham chipped in 11 as Pitt (16-11, 7-9) had its two-game win streak snapped.

The game was tied at 54-54 with just over seven minutes left before Notre Dame used a 13-2 run to take the lead for good. Burton delivered a key 3-pointer that gave the hosts a 59-54 edge and forced the Panthers to burn a timeout.

Davis' layup gave the Fighting Irish their biggest lead of the day at 65-56. Burton added a jumper two minutes later to put Notre Dame up 11 with 2:43 to go.

But Leggett made things interesting late for the Panthers by knocking down two 3-pointers, including one with 23 seconds left that trimmed the deficit to 72-69.

Pitt closed within 74-72 with eight seconds left, but J.R. Konieczny responded with two free throws and the Fighting Irish survived despite not making a field goal in the final 2:43 of the game.

The Panthers made seven straight shots to open up a 19-16 lead just past the midway point of the first half.

The teams were tied again at 28-28 with a little over three minutes to go and neither could grab momentum before halftime.

Pitt, which went the final 3:20 of the half without a field goal, took a 30-28 lead on two free throws by Leggett with 1:13 remaining.

Notre Dame went three minutes without a bucket until Burton ended the drought with a jumper just before halftime that tied the score at 30-30.

--Field Level Media