Notre Dame Gets the Last Word

Pittsburgh’s Brandin Knight had just made his only basket of the game, a three-point shot with 32 seconds left that tied the score.

He was near midcourt guarding Chris Thomas as the game clock ticked down. He smiled and started talking to his counterpart from Notre Dame.

“He said, ‘This is the way it’s supposed to be,’ Thomas said. “I said, ‘You’re right.” ’

Thomas started to drive around Knight to get off a shot, but spotted Torin Francis under the basket and passed inside. Francis scored with six-tenths of a second left to give No. 10 Notre Dame a 66-64 victory over the fourth-ranked Panthers on Sunday at South Bend, Ind.

The Panthers (16-3, 6-2 in the Big East) had one last chance, but Jordan Cornette swatted away the inbounds pass by Jaron Brown as time expired.

Notre Dame students then swarmed the court as officials checked the video replay to make sure that time had run out.

The Irish (19-4, 7-2), who lost to Seton Hall on Wednesday, are a half-game ahead of the Panthers in the Big East West Division.

Georgia Tech 90, No. 8 Maryland 84 -- Freshman point guard Jarrett Jack banked in a three-point shot with 39 seconds left to help the Yellow Jackets win at Atlanta.

The Terrapins (14-6, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) have lost two in a row and gave up 90 points for the first time this season.

Georgia Tech (12-8, 5-4) continued its strange season by improving to 11-0 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Yellow Jackets have yet to win a road game, picking up their only other victory at a neutral site.

No. 9 Duke 65, Clemson 55 -- The Blue Devils continued their success against the Tigers, beating them for the 15th straight time.

The win at Durham, N.C., moved Duke (16-3, 6-3) a half-game behind league-leading Wake Forest and into a second-place tie with Maryland in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The loss dropped Clemson (12-7, 2-7), which started the season 9-0, into a tie for last in the ACC with Florida State.

Cincinnati 61, No. 11 Oklahoma State 50 -- The Bearcats’ tight man-to-man defense bothered the Cowboys (18-3) and opened up a close game at Cincinnati.

Oklahoma State missed 16 of its first 18 shots in the half, allowing Cincinnati (14-6) to turn a one-point deficit into a 14-point lead.

No. 15 Marquette 68, No. 14 Wake Forest 61 -- Robert Jackson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Scott Merritt added 16 points and nine rebounds at Milwaukee to help the Golden Eagles (17-3) extend their winning streak to nine and end a four-game winning streak for the Demon Deacons (16-3).

No. 16 Illinois 76, Ohio State 57 -- The Illini (16-4, 6-3 Big Ten) built a 32-point lead early in the second half at Champaign, Ill., only to have it cut in half with about eight minutes left. But they held on to win their 14th straight at home.

Illinois, which made 12 of 28 three-point shots, held the Buckeyes (11-10, 4-6) to 31% shooting.

No. 21 Missouri 82, Texas Tech 73 -- The Tigers (14-5, 5-3 Big 12) remained unbeaten in 11 home games and prevented Red Raider Coach Bob Knight from getting victory No. 801.

Andre Emmett had a career-high 34 points for Texas Tech (13-6, 3-5) on 14-for-20 shooting. But he was the Red Raiders’ only offensive weapon.