Healthy Colson lifts Notre Dame

Bonzie Colson scored 19 points in 33 minutes, getting a full day’s work in his third game back from injury as Notre Dame needed the star forward to hold off Pittsburgh 67-64 in its Atlantic Coast Conference tournament opener Tuesday in New York.

Colson made two from the line with 22.3 seconds left after a loose-ball foul on Pitt’s Marcus Carr that drew loud complaints from Panthers coach Kevin Stallings. Carr lost the ball on Pitt’s next possession, and 10th-seeded Notre Dame closed it out without any more drama.

Notre Dame improved to 13-4 with Colson in the lineup and is hoping a good showing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn will convince the NCAA tournament selection committee that, with a healthy Colson, the Fighting Irish (19-13) deserve a spot in field of 68.

In the tournament opener, Boston College (1814) defeated Georgia Tech 87-77.

Grant Benzinger had 19 points and nine rebounds to help second-seeded Wright State (25-9) beat eighth-seeded Cleveland State 74-57 in the Horizon League tournament title game in Detroit to earn an NCAA tournament bid . ... In other conference title games, Charleston (26-7) topped Northeastern 83-76 for the Colonial Athletic Association berth, and LIU Brooklyn (18-16) upset Wagner 71-61 in the Northeast Conference.

The 68 NCAA tournament teams will be revealed in the first 10 minutes of the selection show Sunday, and then the brackets will be unveiled one region at a time.

CBS and Turner announced the new tweaks to the format with TBS airing the selection show for the first time since CBS and Turner Sports began partnering on NCAA tournament coverage in 2011. Automatic bids will be announced in alphabetical order by conference. Then at-large selections will be revealed in alphabetical order by team. The show will be done in front of a live audience.

In 2016, CBS extended the show to two hours and was criticized by fans for taking too long to unveil the entire bracket. AP