Clemson exorcised its demons Wednesday at Notre Dame.

Before Wednesday’s game, the Tigers lost on the game’s final possession four different times this season, more than any other team in the ACC. However, on Wednesday night, the Tigers finally got a break when Irish freshman Nate Laszewski missed a free throw with three seconds to play that would have tied the game.

Instead, Clyde Trapp grabbed the rebound and then made the first free throw on a one-and-one attempt before intentionally missing the second one as Clemson hung on to win, 64-62, at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind.

“It is just a good win for our team,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said afterward. “We have had a lot of close losses this year and have had some bad breaks, so it was finally good for us to make a couple of plays and then we were very fortunate, obviously, with the missed free throw.”

The Tigers (18-12, 8-9 ACC) trailed by four points, 58-54, after Notre Dame’s T.J. Gibbs drained a three-pointer with 3:58 to play in the game.

But led by its seniors, Clemson came roaring back.

First guard Shelton Mitchell pulled up for a transition jump shot to cut the lead to two points, and then after another stop on the defensive end, Marcquise Reed laid up a shot up to tie the game at 58 with 2:29 to play.

Reed scored six straight points down the stretch, including two big free throws to give the Tigers a 62-59 lead with 26 seconds to play. He also made a tough pull-up jumper from the left elbow with 55 seconds to play that put the Tigers back in front to stay.

Following his jump shot, Reed stole a pass from Prentiss Hubb on the left side on the defensive end of the court with 28 seconds to play to set up his two free throws.

“I am really proud of our guys. We had to make a lot of plays down the stretch and we executed a couple of sets. Marcquise was huge,” Brownell said.

Hubb made a layup with 19 seconds to play, and then Mitchell missed his second free throw on the other end, setting Notre Dame (13-17, 3-14 ACC) up for a potential game-winning shot. Gibbs badly missed a three-point attempt with five seconds to go, but Laszewski grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Mitchell as he tried to make a play with three seconds left.

Laszewski made the first foul shot and a chance to tie the game and force overtime, but he was off the mark with his second shot and Trapp grabbed the rebound to secure the victory.

The miss came after Brownell called a timeout to try and freeze the freshman.

“You just try to throw him off if you can,” Brownell said. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a really hard thing for the shooter. It happened to us last year at NC State. We had to make three free throws to tie. We made the first two and then they called timeout and we missed the third one.

“So, yeah, that is something we have done in the past as well.”

The win was huge for the Tigers’ NCAA Tournament hopes. As a team firmly on the bubble, they desperately needed a win. With a victory at home on Saturday against Syracuse, the Tigers can possibly earn a tournament bid or at least put itself in position to get one with the ACC Tournament coming up next week in Charlotte.

“I am proud of our guys for the way they have picked themselves off the mat and keep fighting because it is not easy,” Brownell said.

Reed led Clemson with 22 points on 8 of 13 shooting. He also was 6-for-6 from the foul line, had 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Elijah Thomas added 14 points and had 8 rebounds, most of which came in the second half, due to early foul trouble. Mitchell scored 11 points and had 3 assists.

David Skara returned after missing the North Carolina game with an elbow injury. He came off the bench and scored seven points for the Tigers. John Mooney led the Irish with 18 points, 20 rebounds and had 5 assists.

Clemson will honor Reed, Mitchell, Thomas and Skara on senior day Saturday afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum. Tipoff is set for noon.

–Matt Freeman of Irish Sports Daily contributed to this story