Clemson rallies in second half to top Blazers in Asheville Championship |
A late flurry of efficient 3-point shooting guided a Clemson comeback from nine points down in the second half and Brad Brownell’s Tigers survived a frenetic stretch after that to a 77-76 win over UAB to open Asheville Championship play at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center Friday.
The Tigers (2-0) take on Davidson (2-0) at 3 p.m. on Sunday in Asheville for the mini-tournament crown (ESPN2). All-ACC forward PJ Hall again led Clemson’s scoring efforts with 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting, adding nine rebounds and three blocks. A Chase Hunter 3-pointer, Clemson’s fourth make from beyond the arc in 17 attempts at that point, brought things back to a one-shot game and a 67-64 UAB lead with under six minutes left. A Chauncey Wiggins trey then tied up the game with 5:27 left. Ian Schieffelin’s 3-pointer a minute later gave Clemson its first lead since the first half, 70-67. The run extended to 14-0 with a Hall layup. Efrem Johnson hit a 3-pointer that broke the scoreless UAB run of nearly five minutes and made it a 2-point game with under three minutes left. Eric Gaines’ 3-pointer with under a minute left gave UAB back the lead, 73-72, and Clemson called a timeout with 47 seconds left. After a missed Chase Hunter layup, Hall was there to clean it up with a layup and earn a free throw to go up 75-73 with 29 seconds left. With nine seconds left, Johnson struck again with a 3-pointer to answer and give UAB the one-point edge. After a timeout, Chase Hunter earned a spot at the free-throw line after a drive and he hit both attempts to regain the lead with 3.4 seconds left. Gaines’ desperation final shot then missed off the backboard to wrap the action. Clemson led for most of the first half, but UAB clipped the Tigers at the finish. Hall was in double-figures with just over 10 minutes in, hitting double-digit scoring in a 13th-consecutive game, and he finished the period with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. As the half wrapped, UAB went on a 10-0 run, and after regaining the lead briefly, a turnover from transfer Joseph Girard III gave way to a Gaines 3-pointer to make it 42-39 Blazers at the break. UAB hit five of its 12 attempts from beyond the arc, while Clemson sunk just 1-of-10 there. Brownell’s Tigers held a 22-10 points in the paint advantage and made 10-of-14 free throws after the first 20 minutes. UAB extended that lead quickly out to eight points before Hall connected on his second 3-pointer of the game, but with its mix of defenses bothering the Tigers, the Blazers pushed the advantage back out to nine shortly after. Girard sunk his second 3-pointer of the season and Dillon Hunter took advantage of a turnover runout with a layup to cut the UAB lead to three points with 13:17 to go. UAB foul trouble started to catch up with it midway through the second half, where it had two players foul out within minutes of each other, with a three-point advantage still with 10 to go. But as Clemson’s turnover count raised to 12 on the game, the Blazers built their lead back out to eight points and brought on a Brownell timeout with eight minutes left. Chase Hunter finished with 16 points, also dishing four assists. Clemson held a 34-22 points in the paint advantage. The Tigers hit their last three 3-point attempts after a 3-for-16 start. PJ THROWDOWN 🔨 At the half:
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Hall: 6/8, 15 pts, 3 reb, 1 assist
Hunter: 5/7, 10 pts, 0 reb, 1 assist#ClemsonGRIT https://t.co/rICtKrjNB5 pic.twitter.com/Y8Z6EO3kUE
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