Freshmen Shrewsberry, Burton lift Notre Dame past Georgia Tech 84-80 in ACC tourney opener
WASHINGTON (AP) — Freshmen Braeden Shrewsberry and Markus Burton combined for 44 points and 12th-seeded Notre Dame opened the ACC Tournament with its third straight nail-biting win over 13th-seeded Georgia Tech 84-80 on Tuesday.
Shrewsberry had 23 points with five 3-pointers and Burton added 21 with eight assists as the Fighting Irish (13-19) advanced to face fifth-seeded Wake Forest despite blowing a 17-point lead in the final 13 minutes.
Tae Davis added 12 points and Kebba Njie had 11 with nine rebounds for Notre Dame, which beat the Yellow Jackets 58-55 at home and 75-68 in overtime on the road.
The Irish were down one when Burton blew past a defender for a fast-break layup and an 81-80 lead with 1:16 to play.
Georgia Tech turned the ball over but then forced Burton into a miss on a tough layup with 26 seconds to play. However, Njie snared an offensive rebound, which led to free throws for Davis with 24.9 seconds to go. Davis made both free throws but the second was waved off by a line violation, giving the Yellow Jackets a chance, down 82-80.
Davis got his hand on a pass, forcing a turnover and Shrewsberry iced the win with two free throws with five seconds left.
Naithan George had five 3s and scored 24 points with seven assists for Georgia Tech (14-18). Baye Ndongo had 22 points and seven rebounds. Kyle Sturdivant added 10 points.
Notre Dame was 12 of 23 from 3-point range and shot 54% overall (28 of 52). Georgia Tech had eight 3s on 27 attempts and was 47% overall (27 of 57).
Notre Dame led by 10 at halftime and quickly got it to 14 following a dunk by Carey Booth and a 3-pointer from Matt Zona made it 65-48 with 12:59 to go. Njie had the Irish on top 70-59 midway through the second half.
Georgia Tech reeled off eight straight points, with George converting a four-point play to cut the deficit to 70-67. Dallan Coleman hit a 3-pointer and George scored consecutive jumpers and the Yellow Jackets led 78-77, their first lead of the game.
Burton had 15 at halftime on 6-of-9 shooting with three 3's to help the Irish, who shot 62%, take a 45-35 lead.
Burton had a 3, followed by two jumpers before Shrewsberry's 3 made it 17-5. George had a layup and a 3 to get the Yellow Jackets back within 24-18 midway through. The lead reached 14 before six free throws in the final 1 1/2 minute helped cut it back to 10.
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