SOUTH BEND, IND. ? Pittsburgh’s Brandin Knight had just hit his only basket of the game, a three-pointer with 32 seconds left that tied the score. He was near midcourt guarding Chris Thomas as the game clock ticked down. He smiled and started talking to his counterpart from Notre Dame.

“He said, ‘This is the way it’s supposed to be,”‘ Thomas said. “I said, ‘You’re right.”‘

Knight wasn’t smiling for long.

Thomas started to drive around Knight to get a shot off, but saw a crowd of players ahead. At the last second, he spotted Torin Francis under the basket and passed inside. Francis scored with 0.6 seconds left to give No. 10 Notre Dame a 66-64 victory Sunday over the fourth-ranked Panthers.

“I cut to the ball and he found me at the last minute,” said Francis, who was 3-for-3 from the field in the second half after being held without a shot in the first half. “I just put it up.”

The Panthers had one last chance, but Jordan Cornette swatted away the inbounds pass by Jaron Brown as time expired. Notre Dame students then swarmed the court as officials checked the videotape to make sure time had run out.

It was the fourth straight game Pittsburgh (16-3 overall, 6-2 Big East Conference) squandered a double-digit lead, although the Panthers managed to beat Georgetown and Providence. But the Panthers, who were a win away from taking over No. 1 last week until losing to Syracuse, have lost two of three. The Irish (19-4, 7-2), who lost to Seton Hall Wednesday, are a half-game ahead of the Panthers in the Big East West Division.

“It’s a very tough loss for us,” Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland said. “We’re disappointed to have had the lead in our past two road games and let them slip away from us.”

Thomas, who was just 2-of-15 from the field against the Panthers in a 72-55 loss at Pittsburgh last month, led the Irish with 24 points and eight assists.

“He’s a big-time winner, and he makes the rest of our group follow along,” Irish coach Mike Brey said.

Pitt appeared ready to break the game open when Brown scored on a layup to give the Panthers a 45-35 lead early in the second half. But the Irish went on a 9-0 run as Matt Carroll, who scored 14, hit a three-pointer immediately after Francis missed his second free throw. Carroll then hit another three-pointer, and Francis scored another basket inside to cut the lead to 45-44.

Notre Dame guards Matt Carroll, left, and Chris Quinn whoop it up after the No. 10 Irish upended No. 4 Pittsburgh, 66-64. Fans stormed the court after the game Sunday in South Bend, Ind.

The Panthers kept the lead until Thomas stole the ball from Knight at midcourt and went in for the layup to tie the score at 52. Torrian Jones then made a free throw to give the Irish a 53-52 lead.

Thomas hit a three-pointer with 6:03 left to give the Irish a 58-56 lead, and they went up by four on a fastbreak layup by Thomas.

The key to the second-half turnaround, though, was the rebounding by Notre Dame. The Irish had been outrebounded a season-worst 51-30 in the loss at Pitt — Notre Dame’s worst loss in three seasons under Brey — and 24-10 in the first half Sunday. But in the second half, the Irish outrebounded the Panthers 16-9.

“We were focused on that,” Carroll said. “They’re so big and strong underneath so we really concentrated on that in the second half.”

Georgia Tech 90, No. 8 Maryland 84

Atlanta — B.J. Elder scored 23 points and freshman point guard Jarrett Jack added a career-high 20 and ran an offense that became the first this season to reach 90 points against Maryland. The Terrapins (14-6, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost earlier this week to Virginia at home. Georgia Tech (12-8, 5-4) improved to 11-0 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

No. 9 Duke 65, Clemson 55

Durham, N.C. — Dahntay Jones scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half as the Blue Devils won their 25th straight home game by beating Clemson for the 15th consecutive time. Casey Sanders added eight points and a career-high 14 rebounds for Duke (16-3, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), which won despite shooting 34 percent.

No. 15 Marquette 68, No. 14 Wake Forest 61

Milwaukee — Robert Jackson scored 19 points and Dwyane Wade had 18 to lead the Golden Eagles to their 28th consecutive home victory. Scott Merritt added 16 points, including seven straight midway through the second half, as Marquette (17-3) won its ninth straight and ended Wake Forest’s four-game winning streak.

No. 16 Illinois 76, Ohio State 57

Champaign, Ill. — Brian Cook scored 22 points, and reserve Roger Powell added 14 for the Illini, who made a season-high 12 three-pointers in winnings their 14th straight home game. Powell was 5-of-5 for the Illini (16-4, 6-3 Big Ten), who shot 50 percent from the field, including 12-of-28 on threes, and held the Buckeyes (11-10, 4-6) to 31 percent shooting.

No. 25 Stanford 84, Oregon State 73

Corvallis, Ore. — Julius Barnes had a career-high 33 points for the Cardinal (17-6, 8-3 Pac-10), who have won eight of 10. Philip Ricci had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Beavers (11-9, 4-7), who have lost two straight.