(Photo Courtesy of Notre Dame men’s basketball)

It was ugly. It was a rollercoaster. But it was a rare Notre Dame victory.

On a cold and sleeting night in South Bend, the play inside Purcell Pavilion was even harder to watch for most of the night but a Cole Certa 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds lifted the Irish men’s basketball team to a 56-54 win over Stanford.

Notre Dame shot just 35% from the field for the game. Stanford shot just 33%.

Stanford opened up a 9-point lead with 8:51 left in the game only to see Notre Dame rally, scoring 15 straight points over the next five minutes to take a 52-46 lead with 3:28 left in the game.

And then it felt like a collapse synonymous with this season for the Irish as Stanford went on an 8-0 run to regain a 54-52 lead with 1:18 left.

But instead of blowing yet another lead like they have done so many times this year, the Irish found a way this time to secure a spot in the ACC Tournament.

Down 54-53 with 18 seconds left, Tae Davis found Certa in the corner who dropped the 3 pointer to give Notre Dame the lead for good. Certa finished with six points. A last second shot for Stanford as time expired did not go down.

Notre Dame improves to 13-17 overall and 7-12 in ACC play.

Markus Burton led the Irish with 24 points. He scored 17 of those points in the 2^nd half. He was the only Irish player to score in double figures. Davis, who had 4 assists including the game winner, scored nine.

The first half was tough to watch. The Irish made just six field goals in the first 20 minutes, trailing 24-21 by halftime.

Notre Dame will close out the regular season Saturday at 4pm at Purcell Pavilion against Cal. It will be Senior Day for South Bend native JR Konieczny.