Clemson’s men’s basketball team was coming off its largest margin of defeat following its midweek loss at Notre Dame. But given the caliber of opponent the Tigers faced Saturday, they’re now fresh off their worst loss of the season.
Clemson watched most of its sizable early lead evaporate before coughing up all of it in a 70-68 loss to the Eagles at Littlejohn Coliseum. Al-Amir Dawes led the Tigers (10-7, 2-4 ACC) with 17 points while David Collins and PJ Hall chipped in 15 and 12 points, respectively, for Clemson, which looked like it might cruise with a 23-point lead toward the latter stages of the first half against a Boston College team that came in having lost five straight games.
Ultimately, though, it wasn’t enough to keep the Tigers away from their first Quadrant 4 loss of the season.
The Eagles, who shot better than 48% from the field, outscored Clemson 37-15 from the 7:10 mark of the first until the early part of the second to get within a possession. Boston College (7-8, 2-3) eventually caught up on T.J. Bickerstaff’s layup to tie it at 66 with 1 minutes, 8 seconds left.
Clemson forced one of the Eagles’ 11 turnovers on their ensuing possession and regained the lead on Collins’ ensuing jumper from the top of key, but Brevin Galloway answered with a 3-pointer to give Boston College its first lead at 69-68 with 26 ticks left.
Collins missed a runner on Clemson’s next possession, forcing the Tigers to foul. After Makai Ashton-Lanford split a pair of free throws, Collins was fouled with just 2 ticks left trying to put back Alex Hemenway’s missed 3-pointer.
But Collins missed the first free throw and clanked the second one on purpose to try to get an offensive rebound for Clemson, but the Tigers were called for a lane violation. That gave possession back to the Eagles in a two-point game and ultimately sealed Clemson’s fate.
Ashton-Langford led all scorers with 19 points while Galloway, who went 5 of 10 from 3-point range, added 18 for Boston College, which began the day at 198th in the NET rankings.
This story will be updated.