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Notre Dame Holds Off Virginia Tech, 76-71

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Notre Dame senior guard Steve Vasturia scored 20 points and the Irish withstood a furious second-half rally by Virginia Tech to escape with a 76-71 win Saturday in front of 9,567 fans at Cassell Coliseum.

The victory moves Notre Dame to 16-2 overall and 5-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Irish are now the only undefeated team in ACC play.

Virginia Tech (13-4, 2-3 in the ACC) took a 67-66 lead on a three-point play by junior guard Chris Clarke with 1:52 remaining. The Irish then made a series of plays to clinch the game.

Junior guard Matt Farrell and senior wing V.J. Beachem hit back-to-back layups to make it 70-67 with 49 seconds left. Farrell then stole the ball on Tech’s ensuing possession, and a fast break layup by freshman guard T.J. Gibbs extended the lead to 72-67 with 41 seconds left.

And though the Irish struggled with their foul shooting down the stretch — Farrell, Vasturia, sophomore wing Rex Pflueger and junior forward Bonzie Colson all missed at least one free throw — Notre Dame held on.

Clarke finished with a game-high 21 points for the Hokies.

Farrell and Colson each added 14 points for the Irish. Colson had 12 rebounds, giving him his 11th double-double of the season. Gibbs added 13 points off the bench.

Notre Dame led by as many as 19 points in the first half, using a 21-2 run midway through the opening period to go up 33-14 with 7:48 left in the half. Tech then responded with a 15-4 run to close the margin back to just 39-31 at the half.

The Irish snapped a 15-game home winning streak for the Hokies. Thursday in Miami, Notre Dame broke the Hurricanes’ 21-game home win streak.

Notre Dame was 28-of-54 from the field and went 7-of-18 from 3-point range. Uncharacteristically, the Irish made just 13-of-20 free throws.

The Hokies were also poor from the line, going just 10-of-18.

The Irish are back on the road Wednesday. They travel to face No. 9 Florida State, which lost to North Carolina on Saturday.

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