(Notre Dame) — Notre Dame’s men’s basketball team builds a lead, fritters it away and loses a close game.

Later, rinse, repeat.

The Irish played out this familiar tale once again Saturday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion, falling to Virginia Tech, 65-63. In the process, Notre Dame loses its third straight game, falling to 10-13 overall and a woeful 4-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

“We got a group of guys that are hurting right now,” admits second-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry. “I deserve every bit of criticism that is coming this way. I’ll sit here and own it and take it, but nobody’s hurting more than our guys. I still believe in those guys.”

It was the visitors who looked inept for the first ten minutes of the game, as Notre Dame built an 18-4 lead, thanks in part to 1-14 shooting by the Hokies.  Then, it was Notre Dame that couldn’t score, as Ben Burnham’s layup brought Tech within 25-23 with 4:27 left first half. That’s when Penn High School alum Markus Burton went on a scoring tear, tallying six of his 14 first-half points to put Notre Dame up 33-26 at halftime.

The second half started strong for the Irish, as a pair of Kebba Njie free throws expanded the lead to 46-35 with 12:12 left. But Notre Dame shot a woeful 8-28 in the second half, and that allowed the Hokies to chisel back into the game. Tobi Lawal led the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Virginia Tech, including a rebound dunk with 3:06 remaining to give his team a lead they would not relinquish.

“I gotta be better for them,” said a dejected Shrewsberry. “I’ll take the blame on this. I’m the one calling the plays down the stretch. I gotta put us in a better position for us to take advantage of how we can score, how we can rebound. We’re undisciplined. We had 17 turnovers. Maybe we have to do something different in practice so we’re not turning the ball over.”

Burton led the Irish with 23 points, while Tae Davis added 18.  Notre Dame goes to Boston College for another conference game on Wednesday night.