The Clemson men’s basketball team defeated the Miami Hurricanes by a score of 77-60 at Littlejohn Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Despite losing their first half lead in the second half, a 24-3 run to close out the game allowed the Tigers to get their revenge on another ACC opponent. The team is now over .500 in the ACC, the first time since Clemson’s first in-conference contest, when they beat Pittsburgh in early December.
Clemson was in a tough spot late, being down by six with under ten minutes to go. However, it would be guard Chase Hunter who would weather the storm. Down the stretch, he would score all 12 of his second-half points in the last half of the game, sinking three three-pointers to retake the lead and disallow another Hurricane advantage until the buzzer.
The Tigers (17-7, 7-6 ACC) came out firing, going on a 9-0 run early in the first half that granted them the lead for the rest of the frame. Continuing on his recent successes, Joe Girard III led the charge in the first 20 minutes, scoring 10 points while sinking two threes.
The Hurricanes (15-10, 6-8 ACC) did not let the game out of their hands, however. Head coach Jim Larranaga’s defense held the Tigers to no points in the last 3:53 of the frame, going into halftime down by one point.
From there, they would take the lead with about 18 minutes to go. Clemson would begin to fight back, and four lead changes would occur over the final minutes of the game. With rough scoring droughts for both sides, it was a game of runs. Both sides scored 10+ unanswered points in runs throughout the match.
The Tigers would only pick up momentum until the end of the game, shutting out Miami in the last four minutes of the game. The Hurricanes scored 60 points in the second half of the first contest on Jan. 3. It took two halves this time to reach that mark, a nod to the coaching.
Hunter would lead the scoring for the Tigers, scoring 20 points and dishing four assists. Girard would finish with 18 points and five assists as well. PJ Hall would add an additional 13 points, including a highlight reel dunk at the end of the game to seal the win.
Miami would be lead by forward Norchad Omier, who scored 18 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Kyshawn George scored 13 points as well for the Hurricanes.
Clemson will be back in action on Saturday night when they will host NC State at Littlejohn Coliseum with hopes of making it four straight wins.
