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Hubb Rallies Irish Past Pittsburgh

Notre Dame MBB at Pittsburgh Box Score

The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team (7-5, 1-1) rallied to claim its first road victory of the season at Pittsburgh (5-8, 0-2), 68-67, on a fall away jump shot from senior Prentiss Hubb with five seconds remaining. Hubb scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half as the Irish refused to quit and earned their first Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the year. 

Graduate student Paul Atkinson Jr. paced the Irish offense with 16 points along with eight rebounds. Freshman Blake Wesley added 12 points while senior Dane Goodwin ended up with 11. John Hugley led Pitt with 18 pints and six rebounds. 

Notre Dame earned an early 7-4 lead behind a three pointer from reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week Dane Goodwin, but Pitt turned up the defense and rallied back to take a 9-7 lead at the first media timeout. 

Both teams hit a cold stretch from the field, but Nate Laszewski connected on a corner three pointer to cut the Pitt lead to one at 11-10 with 11:34 left in the first half. 

Notre Dame was able to pull ahead behind two scoring streaks from two different players. Atkinson worked free down low to score four points in a row around the paint. Wesley then re-entered the game after being whistled for two quick fouls earlier in the half. He promptly connected on back-to-back three point field goals, then drove by his defender for his eighth straight point. 

Pitt edged back to tie up the game 30-30 at the break behind a three point play from Femi Odukale. Neither team could manage more than a five point lead in the first 20 minutes. 

Goodwin started out the second half with a top-of-the-key three pointer, but the Panthers responded with a 9-0 run to go ahead 39-33 as the Irish turned the ball over four times in the first three minutes of the second half. 

Wesley ended the Pitt run with a drive to the hoop, drawing a foul and converting for his 10th point of the game. Pittsburgh maintained their five point lead into the 12:00 break, with both offenses going over four minutes without a field goal. 

Goodwin had a transition look at a three pointer with 10 minutes remaining to tie the game at 44-44 that rimmed out. Pitt then claimed a 49-41 lead with a three pointer of their own taking advantage of the Irish missing nine of 10 shots over a five minute span. 

The Irish would not go down without a fight. Two back-to-back threes from Hubb followed by four consecutive free throws suddenly tied the game at 55-55 as the Irish switched to a zone defense that bogged down the Panther offense. 

Pitt briefly took a 57-55 lead on two free throws, but Hubb stepped up again for his third consecutive three pointer to give the Irish a 58-57 lead with 3:40 left. 

Wesley followed up by finding Goodwin open on the wing for a three pointer to put the Irish up 61-57 – their largest lead of the second half. It didn’t last long, however, as Pitt when right back to Hugley down low who scored, drew a foul and converted to cut the lead right back to one point at 61-60. 

It was back to back scores by both teams the rest of the way. Atkinson put back a Hubb miss, but Pitt’s Jamarius Burton came back with a three pointer to tie the game. The next possession for the Irish ended with Cormac Ryan connecting on his only field goal of the game, a three pointer at the end of the shot clock to give the Irish a 66-63 lead. 

Pitt went right back down low and drew the fifth foul of the game to sit Atkinson. The Panthers connected on both shots to take a one point lead. With Atkinson out, the Irish went to Goodwin who got a clean look at the free throw line that went half way down then rimmed out. 

A missed free throw by the home team gave Notre Dame possession with 32 seconds remaining, trailing by one point. After some offensive movement, Hubb backed his defender down, glanced at the clock and connected on a high arcing fade away jumper from the right side to put ND up one point with five seconds remaining. 

Great perimeter defense on the next possession by the Irish forced Burton into a jumper trailing away from the rim. It glanced off the rim and the Irish earned their seventh win of the year.