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Notre Dame Downs Duke 84-79 For Massive Comeback Win

By Joshua Vowles

Mar 10, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Zach Auguste (30) celebrates after scoring in the second half against the Duke Blue Devils during day three of the ACC conference tournament at Verizon Center. Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated Duke Blue Devils 84-79 in overtime Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 10, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Zach Auguste (30) celebrates after scoring in the second half against the Duke Blue Devils during day three of the ACC conference tournament at Verizon Center. Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated Duke Blue Devils 84-79 in overtime Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Notre Dame pulled off a comeback for the ages against Duke to advance in the ACC Tournament.

The Fighting Irish proved their namesake Thursday afternoon with an incredible victory over Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. With less than eleven minutes left in the game, Notre Dame trailed the Blue Devils by sixteen points.

This is not new. Notre Dame has found itself in these situations all season long, and they have pulled out victories in more than their fair share of those type of games. So, you could almost smell the confidence in the air as the Irish chipped away at the Blue Devils bit by bit. It wasn’t just their offensive play that helped lead them back, it was defense and stellar rebounding- 22 of those rebounds came via Zach Auguste.

The run was sound and vicious and quite large. The Irish stormed back with a 14-0 run, until they finally took the lead on a beautifully quick three point shot from VJ Beachem to take a one point lead. However, Duke came right back down the court to end their drought with their own three pointer to take the lead.

Moments later and with the Irish down by three, Beachem drained another three point shot to tie the game. Once they got to overtime, the Irish had more juice, more want, and more guts as they pulled away to win the game.

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Once again, we see the Irish play an underdog role to a tobacco road team- despite OWNING Duke over the last six games. The Irish got punched in the mouth, but they smiled bigger and then ripped Dukes soul out of their chest. It was a comeback for the ages, and perhaps a litmus test for what may come in the rest of the ACC tournament and the upcoming NCAA tournament.

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