(Photo Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)

Take ’em anyway you can get ’em.

Wins have been hard to come by for the Notre Dame men’s basketball team this season so no reason not to accept some gifts when they come along.

Tied at 54 in the closing seconds, Markus Burton missed a shot and Tae Davis was fouled on the rebound with 0.5 seconds remaining. Davis made the 1st free throw and missed the second as the Irish defeated Pitt 55-54 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Davis led a well balanced Irish attack with 11 points. Nikita Konstantynovskyi and Burton each had 10 while Matt Allocco scored nine.

Notre Dame got off to a strong start, leading Pitt 20-10 midway through the 1st half but the Panthers were able to close to within three by halftime. Pitt took its first lead of the game six minutes into the 2nd half and then the two teams traded the lead 10 different times.

With the Irish up 52-51 with 1:09 left, Brandin Cummings hit a 3 to give the Panthers a 2 point lead. The Irish tied it up with 54 seconds remaining on a basket from Konstantynovskyi. After a missed shot by Pitt, the Irish played for the final shot which Burton missed with less than a second left on a jumper. Davis went for the putback and officials called a foul giving the Irish the chance for the win and they secured it.

The victory is the 3rd straight for Notre Dame which improved to 15-17 overall. They will face North Carolina Wednesday at 2:30pm in the next round of the ACC Tournament.