The Clemson Tigers (12-5, 2-4 ACC) the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (9-8, 2-4 ACC) by a score of 93-90 at Littlejohn Coliseum on Tuesday night in double overtime.
Despite a historic night behind center PJ Hall, the Tigers led for a majority of the game, but the Yellow Jackets shocked the Littlejohn crowd with incredible three-point shooting, forcing overtime and putting the game in their favor at the end of it all.
The Tigers thought that they would be done earlier in the night that they imagined, but the success from three-point range that the Yellow Jackets had kept them in the game the entire night. Clemson was consistently ahead, leading by four or five points before a Georgia Tech three-pointer would put the game into a one-possession game.
Head coach Brad Brownell and his squad were unable to put the game to bed, and it hurt them down the road.
It came to show with 12 seconds to go in the game, when Clemson guard Chase Hunter missed a free throw to leave the contest at a three-point margin.
And so the story goes, the Yellow Jackets took it across the court and found guard Naithan George with open space, took the shot, and the game was tied at 71.
The Tigers weren’t up for a majority of overtime, being down by three points with 1:14 remaining in the first overtime. Forward Ian Schieffelin scored a contested layup and Clemson had another chance to put the game in their hands with Hall going to the free-throw line to shoot twice.
The first one, no good.
The second was sunk, and the game was headed to second overtime, tied at 82.
George came back to haunt the Clemson faithful for the rest of the night in the second overtime. This time, while up by one point, the freshman put up a dagger over Hunter, sending the game to a three-point deficit with 1:28 to go. George would lead the Yellow Jackets with a team-high 20 points.
The Tigers were unable to cut the lead, and they suffered their fourth ACC loss of the season as a result.
On a brighter note, Hall had a career day and a game to remember. The senior scored 31 points, a career best on Tuesday night. He also added 17 rebounds, which shatters his old best of 13 rebounds. Hall would add three blocks as well and would record his fourth double-double of the season.
Joining him in the double-double club Tuesday night was Schieffelin. The junior added 20 points of his own and 15 rebounds, eight of those being on the offensive glass. The two are the first pair of Clemson teammates with a double-double since the 2022-2023 season, when Hall was able to do it with former Tiger Hunter Tyson in December 2022 against, coincidentally, Georgia Tech last season.
Chase Hunter scored 18 points and Joe Girard III added 11 points for the Tigers in the loss.
The Tigers will be back in action against Florida State. Brownell and his squad will travel to Tallahassee to try to get back to winning ways against the Seminoles on Saturday afternoon.
