Tae Davis' free throw lifts Notre Dame past Pitt in ACC tourney opener

Tae Davis made a free throw with 0.5 second remaining and No. 12 seed Notre Dame pulled out a 55-54 victory against 13th-seeded Pittsburgh in the first game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C. The winning opportunity came after Notre Dame's Markus Burton missed a shot but Davis collected the rebound and was fouled by Zack Austin. After making the first free throw, he missed the next attempt and then time expired. Davis had a team-leading 11 points and Burton, the ACC scoring leader at 22.2 points per game, and Nikita Konstantynovskyi both posted 10 points for the Irish (15-17). Notre Dame, which has won three games in a row, takes on fifth-seeded North Carolina (20-12), which received a first-round bye, in the second round Wednesday afternoon. The Tar Heels beat the host Fighting Irish 74-73 on Jan. 4. Jalan Lowe's 17 points and Cameron Corhen's 10 paced Pitt (17-15), which lost five of its last six games. The Panthers led 47-43 with just under four minutes to play. Brandin Cummings made two free throws for Pitt for a 51-50 edge with 1:35 remaining, only for Notre Dame, 14 seconds later, to regain the lead at 52-51 on a pair of Davis foul shots. Cummings drained a 3-pointer, but the Irish were even again, at 54-54, on Konstantynovskyi's tip-in at the 49-second mark. Notre Dame shot 39.6 percent (21 of 53) and committed 17 turnovers. Pitt checked in at 36.2 percent (21 of 58). Burton shot 4-for-14 and missed all three of his 3-point attempts. The Irish were 4-for-20 from beyond the arc. Konstantynovskyi had a season-high point total and also pulled in a game-high nine rebounds. Notre Dame built a 20-10 lead before settling for a 25-22 halftime lead. Burton, who had 43 points in Saturday's four-overtime victory against California, had just two points at the break. The scoring developed more slowly in this game. The Irish reached the 43-point mark on Burton's basket with 6:54 remaining in the second half, creating a 43-43 tie. --Field Level Media