WASHINGTON (AP) — Freshmen Braden Shrewsberry and Marcus Barton combined for 44 points and 12th-seeded Notre Dame defeated 13th-seeded Georgia Tech 84-80 on Tuesday with a nail-biting 3-pointer. They won back-to-back games and opened the ACC tournament.
Shrewsbury scored 23 points on five 3-pointers and Burton added 21 points with eight assists, even though the Fighting Irish (13-19) blew a 17-point lead with 13 minutes left. They advanced to play against No. 5 seed Wake Forest.
Tae Davis had 12 points and Keva Nie had 11 points and nine rebounds for Notre Dame, which defeated the Yellow Jackets 58-55 at home and 75-68 in overtime on the road.
The Irish took a one-point lead when Barton made a fast-break layup past his defender to take an 81-80 lead with 1:16 left.
Georgia Tech turned the ball over, forcing Barton to miss a tough layup with 26 seconds left. But Engie grabbed the offensive rebound, leading to Davis' free throw with 24.9 seconds left. Davis made two free throws, but the second one was missed due to a line violation, giving the Yellow Jackets a chance and falling behind 82-80.
Davis made a pass that forced a turnover, and Shrewsbury made two free throws with five seconds left to seal the victory.
Nathan George made five threes and had 24 points and seven assists for Georgia Tech (14-18). Baye Ndongo had 22 points and seven rebounds. Kyle Sturdivant added 10 points.
Notre Dame made 12 of 23 3-pointers and shot 54% overall (28 of 52). Georgia Tech had eight 3s on his 27 attempts, giving him an overall success rate of 47% (27 of 57).
Notre Dame led by 10 points at halftime and quickly cut it to 14 points. After Carey Booth's dunk Then Matt Zona's 3-pointer made it 65-48 with 12:59 left. Midway through the second half, Engie put the Irish on top, 70-59.
Georgia Tech closed the gap to 70-67 with George's four-point play, scoring eight straight points. Darran Coleman made a 3-pointer and George hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Yellow Jackets their first lead of the game at 78-77.
Barton made 15 of his 6-of-9 shots and three threes by halftime, giving the Irish a 45-35 lead on 62 percent shooting.
Burton made a 3, followed by two jumpers, and Shrewsbury made a 3 to make it 17-5. George hit a layup and three down the stretch to get the Yellow Jackets within 24-18. The lead reached 14 points, but six free throws in the final minute and a half cut the lead to 10 points.
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