Cole Certa scored 12 of his 32 points in overtime to lead Notre Dame to a stunning 96-90 win over North Carolina State Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Ind.

It was Certa’s second 30-plus-point performance in the last four games. After the Fighting Irish (13-16, 4-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) never led in regulation, they took their first lead on Certa’s 3-pointer to open OT and took the lead for good on his second perimeter shot on the ensuing possession.

Certa was 9 of 17 from the floor, making 6 of 10 threes. Jalen Haralson scored 25 points — including the team’s other three in overtime — making 8 of 15 field goals and 9 of 10 free throws.

Braeden Shrewsberry chipped in 16 points with five rebounds and three assists, and Sir Mohammed scored all 10 of his points in the first half for Notre Dame, which pulled off the significant upset to boost its hopes of making the ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

Ven-Allen Lubin scored a season-high 24 points with 10 rebounds for NC State (19-10, 10-6), which has lost four of its last five games to inch closer to the postseason bubble.

Quadir Copeland tallied 17 points and nine assists, and Darrion Williams added 17 on 7-of-17 shooting, including 3-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.

Notre Dame held a 40-32 rebounding advantage, a 38-15 edge in bench points and a 16-2 lead in fastbreak points, shooting 52.5% from the field and 48% from 3-point range (12 of 25).

NC State was held scoreless for the final 3:23 of regulation, with Notre Dame ending on a 7-0 run to rally from a nine-point deficit with 4:46 left. Haralson scored six points during that stretch, including the game-tying free throws with 19 seconds left to send it to OT tied at 81.

NC State jumped out to a 11-2 lead and never trailed in the first half. The Fighting Irish, though, battled back to tie the game at 25.

The Wolfpack immediately went on an 8-0 run, but Notre Dame again didn’t let them fully separate, making its final five shots to trail 44-38 at the half.

NC State also led throughout the second half, responding to each Notre Dame surge, but was never able to extend its lead to double figures. The Fighting Irish cut the deficit to one score three times before finally leveling the score on Haralson’s late free throws in his return to action from an ankle injury on Feb. 10.

–Field Level Media

Ireland’s Shane Lowry shot 8-under-par 63 to surge into a share of the lead with Austin Smotherman through three rounds of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches on Saturday at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Smotherman, who was the second-round leader, had an eagle putt from inside 16 feet on the final hole but settled for birdie. He ended up with 69 on Saturday.

Lowry and Smotherman take 13-under 200 scores into Sunday’s final round at PGA National’s Champion Course.

Taylor Moore (67 on Saturday) and Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (66) are one stroke back.

Lowry was 6 under through 10 holes and then tacked on birdies on the last two holes.

Smotherman, 31, is bidding for his first victory on the PGA Tour. He missed the cut in three of his four previous tournaments this year.

Echavarria’s bogey-free round put him in position to contend for his third tournament title on the PGA Tour.

Jimmy Stanger (65) is at 11 under, while Ricky Castillo (64) and Canada’s A.J. Ewart (68) sit at 10 under. Joel Dahmen (68) is four shots off the lead.

Stanger turned in a rather tame round with a bogey on No. 2 and then seven birdies the rest of the way after Friday’s adventure that included two eagles and two double-bogeys.

Defending champion Joe Highsmith shot 76 and is in 67th place at 5 over.

Tee times for the third round were moved up several hours because of weather-related concerns for later in the afternoon. The first and 10th tees were used as starting points.

–Field Level Media

Missouri’s Mark Mitchell notched a game-high 17 points and four rebounds, and the Tigers collected their 10th Southeastern Conference victory by bashing Mississippi State 88-64 on Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Miss.

Missouri (20-9, 10-6 SEC) was on its game from the opening tip and ran out to a 20-point lead, 28-8, just past the midway point of the first half and never let up in the wire-to-wire win.

Shawn Phillips Jr. scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half and had four rebounds and two blocks.

Anthony Robinson netted 13 points, and T.O. Barrett and Trent Pierce had 10 each.

Missouri scored 27 points on Mississippi State’s 18 turnovers and moved to 20-1 when scoring at least 73 points in a game.

In losing for the sixth time in eight games and dropping their third straight overall, the Bulldogs (13-16, 5-11) did not take care of the ball on the offensive end and their defense — yielding 80 points per game and ranked next-to-last in the conference — failed to defend.

Josh Hubbard, the SEC’s second-leading scorer at 21.6 points per game, led with 16 points and three steals, while Quincy Ballard had 12 points and six boards.

A very slim favorite in the matchup, Missouri did not play like it right away, scoring the first nine points, highlighted by Phillips’ thunderous putback dunk at 18:45. The home side finally scored nearly three minutes in on Hubbard’s layup.

While Missouri made 7 of their first 10 shots and got four points apiece from Mitchell and Phillips, the visitors’ size and athleticism were an obvious advantage as the Bulldogs hit just three field goals and trailed 20-6 with 12 minutes remaining.

Increasing the lead to 50-19 at 2:07 after two free throws by Barrett, Missouri shot 61.3% (19 of 31) and forced 12 Mississippi State turnovers to take a 54-23 lead into the locker room at halftime — the squad’s largest halftime lead in SEC play this season.

Six minutes into the second half, the Tigers’ lead sat at 60-30 before Missouri went off on a 12-2 run.

That stretch was accentuated by Pierce’s wing three-pointer for a 68-32 edge at 12:42 as the Bulldogs could not chip into the massive deficit.

The Tigers continued the onslaught by growing the lead to 36 points and rolling on to a 6-2 mark in the past eight outings.

–Field Level Media