(Photo Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)

JR Konieczny got his first start in a long time and scored 10 points, including six critical free throws in the final minute as the Notre Dame men’s basketball team got a much needed win 76-72 over Pitt Saturday at Purcell Pavilion.

Tae Davis led the Irish with 21 points while Marcus Burton added 20 as the Irish bounced back from an embarrassing, lopsided loss to SMU.

Konieczny was starting in place of Braedon Shrewsberry, who sat out the game with a lower abdomen strain suffered in the MSU game. A Saint Joe High School alum, Konieczny was perfect from the free throw line in the final 37 seconds making all six attempts, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals.

Burton, the former Mr. Basketball from Penn High School, rebounded from a 2 point effort Wednesday. While he was just 2-of-8 from beyond the arc, he was 8-of-17 overall to rack up the 20 points. His bucket with 2:43 left in the game, gave Notre Dame its largest lead at 11.

Pitt would make a comeback and pull within 2 in the final 10 seconds before Konieczny finished the game off with 2 free throws with five seconds remaining.

The Irish are now 12-15 overall and 6-10 in the ACC. They hit the road to Clemson on Wednesday.