Notre Dame led by as many as 17 points in the 2nd half, but had to rally in the final minutes to secure a close victory against Georgia Tech to open the ACC Tournament. The Fighting Irish are moving on with an 84-80 win over the Yellow Jackets.

ND notched its largest lead of the game at the 12:59 mark of the 2nd half, going up 65-48. Georgia Tech, however, wasn’t ready to roll over.

The Yellow Jackets chipped away at the lead and was even up 80-79 with 2:24 to go. Over the last 2:24, however, Georgia Tech went on a scoring drought at the worst time.

ND retook the lead 81-80 on a layup by Markus Burton with 1:16 to go, the Irish’s last field goal of the game. Burton had 21 points on the day, going 8-of-15 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 at the foul line. Burton picked up 4 fouls, but managed to lead the team in minutes.

Notre Dame’s leading scorer was Braeden Shrewsberry with 23 points. He shot 8-of-12 from the field, with a team-high 5 triples.

Kebba Njie came up just shy of a double-double. He had 11 points from 9 free throws with 1 field goal and 9 rebounds.

Micah Shrewsberry is likely disappointed that Notre Dame could not cruise to a comfortable opening-round win after going up 17 in the 2nd half. Four of ND’s 5 starters ended up logging 30-plus minutes to open the tournament: Burton (36 minutes), Shrewsberry (35), Njie (33) and Tae Davis (30).

The Irish played a bit sloppy, committing 14 turnovers to Georgia Tech’s 7. ND was the better 3-point shooting team, going 12-of-23 while the Yellow Jackets were just 8-of-27 beyond the arc. Tech dominated points in the paint, 32-18.

Next up for Notre Dame is a meeting with Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are the No. 5-seed in the conference tourney. ND defeated Wake 70-65 back on Feb. 27 in South Bend.

Notre Dame-Wake Forest is the second game of Wednesday’s ACC tourney slate. It is expected to tip off at 2:30 p.m. ET, after the conclusion of Virginia Tech vs. Florida State at noon.