Al-Amir Dawes – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Clemson holds off Virginia Tech, takes momentum into ACC Tournament

Clemson’s men’s basketball team became whole again Saturday. Now the Tigers are streaking into the ACC Tournament. Clemson closed out the regular season with a 63-59 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum. PJ Hall returned from a …

Clemson’s men’s basketball team became whole again Saturday. Now the Tigers are streaking into the ACC Tournament.

Clemson closed out the regular season with a 63-59 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum. PJ Hall returned from a two-week hiatus to lead four Tigers in double figures with 12 points while junior guard Alex Hemenway added 11 for Clemson, which will take a four-game winning streak into next week’s tournament in Brooklyn.

Clemson (16-15, 8-12 ACC) held its largest lead at 50-44 with 10:08 remaining after a 7-0 run capped by Ian Schieffelin’s jumper, but four free throws were the only points the Tigers mustered over the next 5 minutes and change. Hall ended the drought with a layup that gave Clemson a 56-54 lead with 3:57 left.

Buckets were hard to come by for both teams down the stretch with Clemson clinging to a 60-59 lead with just 44 ticks left after a pair of free throws by Tech’s Justyn Mutts. But senior forward Hunter Tyson sank a timely jumper to extend the Tigers’ lead, and Tech (19-12, 11-9) missed its last seven shots, including five 3-pointers, as Clemson matched its longest winning streak of the season.

Playing for the first time since reaggravating a foot injury against Louisville two weeks earlier, Hall scored just two points in four minutes in the first half before he got going in the second. The Tigers’ sophomore big got off nine shots, making five of them, and pulled down four rebounds in just 13 minutes.

It was the first time Hall and Tyson, who returned to the lineup earlier in the week after missing six games with a broken clavicle, were simultaneously available since Clemson’s win over Florida State on Feb. 2. That put two of the Tigers’ top three scorers on the floor together for the first time in more than a month.

But with Tyson struggling for most of the game (five points on 2 of 7 shooting in 25 minutes), Clemson got more significant contributions from its guards to help pick up the slack. Hemenway scored all of his points off the bench, finishing 4 of 4 from the field and 3 of 3 from beyond the arc. Al-Amir Dawes and senior David Collins, playing his final game at Littlejohn, each chipped in 10 points for Clemson, which shot 43.8% from the field and 40% from 3-point range to deal a major blow to Tech’s NCAA Tournament at-large hopes.

The Hokies, who were paced by Nahiem Alleyne’s 17 points, had won three straight games and nine of their last 10 coming in.

This story will be updated.

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Clemson clamps down on Boston College, starts first ACC winning streak

Clemson has played consecutive games without its starting frontcourt. The Tigers have won both of them. Three days earlier, it was more than half a hundred combined points from Chase Hunter, Al-Amir Dawes and Nick Honor that propelled Clemson to an …

Clemson has played consecutive games without its starting frontcourt. The Tigers have won both of them.

Three days earlier, it was more than half a hundred combined points from Chase Hunter, Al-Amir Dawes and Nick Honor that propelled Clemson to an upset of Wake Forest. On Saturday, the Tigers’ defense stole the show.

Now Clemson (14-15, 6-12 ACC) has its first winning streak in ACC play following a 70-60 victory at Boston College. Chase Hunter poured in a career-high 23 points while Al-Amir Dawes added 16 points, and Clemson held the Eagles (11-17, 6-12) to just 36% shooting in their own building, a vast improvement from the teams’ first meeting more than a month earlier. Again without the services of two of its top three scorers in Hunter Tyson (broken clavicle) and PJ Hall (foot), Clemson also got a lift from freshman center Ben Middlebrooks, who posted career-highs in points (8), rebounds (9) and minutes (27).

Boston College made more than 48% of its shots back on Jan. 15 to escape Littlejohn Coliseum with a two-point win, pulling off one of the largest comebacks in ACC history in the process. This time around, Clemson clamped down to eventually pull away in what began as a tightly contested contest.

The Tigers trailed 35-34 with 15:03 left before holding the Eagles without a field goal for more than 8 minutes. Clemson took the lead on three free throws from Hunter, who scored eight straight points to ignite a 17-2 run that gave the Tigers their largest lead, 51-37, with 7:32 left.

Boston College answered with a 16-8 spurt over the next 5 minutes and change to get back within single digits, but defense again came through for the Tigers to stifle Boston College’s momentum. Naz Bohannon came up with a diving steal and got a timeout to preserve possession for Clemson with 1:40 left, and the Tigers made 11 of 14 free throws in the final 63 seconds to close out the win.

This story will be updated.

Hall exits early with injury in Clemson’s sixth straight loss

Clemson’s longest losing streak in five years on the hardwood continued Saturday, but that wasn’t the biggest story to develop for the Tigers inside the KFC Yum! Center. Sophomore big PJ Hall exited the game with a left foot injury less than two …

Clemson’s longest losing streak in five years on the hardwood continued Saturday, but that wasn’t the biggest story to develop for the Tigers inside the KFC Yum! Center.

Sophomore big PJ Hall exited the game with a left foot injury less than two minutes into Clemson’s game at Louisville. The Tigers used a game-high 18 points from Al-Amir Dawes to stay close, but without their leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, they couldn’t avoid their sixth straight loss in a 70-61 setback.

Hall was averaging 16 points and six boards going into Saturday’s game despite dealing with inflammation in that left foot for much of the season. The 6-foot-10, 240-pounder’s practice time has been limited during the latter part of the season in an effort to get him feeling as good as possible heading into game days.

But Hall played just 1 minutes, 7 seconds Saturday before appearing to aggravate the injury. Naz Bohannon subbed in for him, and Hall went to the locker room for evaluation. He never returned.

Still, Clemson (12-15, 4-12 ACC) rallied from a nine-point deficit early in the second half to tie the game at 45 on a basket from Bohannon with 10:35 left. The Tigers took a 53-52 lead a few minutes later on a 3-pointer from Dawes, who paced Clemson’s 43% shooting performance by going 6 of 11 from 3-point range. His fifth trey cut Louisville’s lead to one a couple of minutes later, but the Cardinals scored the next five points to spark a 13-5 run to end the game.

Bohannon scored 11 points in a season-high 34 minutes to help Clemson offset Louisville’s advantage on interior without Hall. The Tigers only finished minus-3 in rebounding (33-36) and minus-2 in points in the paint (32-34), but Chase Hunter (10 points) was the only other Clemson player to score in double figures.

Pressed into more playing time, freshman center Ben Middlebrooks had four points and two rebounds in only 14 minutes after getting into foul trouble. Noah Locke had a team-high 15 points for Louisville (12-14, 6-10), which shot nearly 46% from the field to snap its seven-game losing streak.

As for Clemson, it’s going through its most prolonged skid since also losing six straight conference games during the 2016-17 season. The Tigers will again try to end it Wednesday at home against Wake Forest.

This story will be updated.

Perimeter shooting suddenly a ‘problematic’ trend for Clemson

PJ Hall did all he could to try to help Clemson stop the bleeding. The Tigers’ sophomore big, who has a strong case as the ACC’s most improved player this season, poured in more points than he ever has in his first two seasons in the men’s …

PJ Hall did all he could to try to help Clemson stop the bleeding.

The Tigers’ sophomore big, who has a strong case as the ACC’s most improved player this season, poured in more points than he ever has in his first two seasons in the men’s basketball program. Despite foot inflammation he’s dealt with for much of the season and being at the top of every opponent’s scouting report at this point, Hall still scored a career-high 28 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the floor and 12 of 13 shooting from the free-throw line Tuesday at Florida State.

“Obviously his efficiency in the offense (Tuesday) was fantastic,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said of Hall, who’s averaging 21.2 points over the last five games. “I’m super proud of him. The kid is in a (walking) boot 90% of every day. He’s walking to games in boots. He’s giving us everything he has, and (Tuesday) he was special in terms of finishing plays.”

But, for multiple reasons, it was all for naught in an 81-80 loss to the Seminoles, which ran Clemson’s longest losing streak in five years to five games.

One was FSU guard RayQuan Evans, who scored 20.5 more points than his season average to match Hall’s 28 on a night when the Seminoles shot nearly 44% from the field and 42% from 3-point range (8 of 19). Throw in 17 points from forward Cam’Ron Fletcher, who came in averaging just 5.9 on the season, and it helped FSU overcome the absence of four of its top six scorers because of injuries.

Hall also didn’t get much help offensively from the backcourt, which has become a trend during Clemson’s skid. Junior guard Al-Amir Dawes bounced back from an 0-for-6 shooting performance against Notre Dame to score 18 points Tuesday, but the Tigers’ guards combined to make just 24.4% of their shots, which included a 23% clip from 3-point range.

Nick Honor and Chase Hunter combined to go 1 of 13 from the field. David Collins, back after his one-game suspension, shot 2 of 3 but missed his lone 3-point attempt.

“They’re not playing quite as well as I’d like or probably they’d like,” Brownell said. “There’s great effort, I thought. But we’re not making enough shots from the perimeter. And it’s problematic for us.”

Dawes, who shot 4 of 10 from beyond the arc, accounted for all but two of Clemson’s buckets from deep. In fact, Dawes is the only guard that’s made more than two 3-point shots in a game during the Tigers’ losing streak.

It’s uncharacteristic of Clemson, which still ranks fifth in the ACC in 3-point field-goal percentage (36.7). But the Tigers’ perimeter shooting has been a real struggle without stretch forward Hunter Tyson, who was shooting nearly 39% from 3 before breaking his clavicle in Clemson’s most recent win back on Feb. 2.

Clemson is shooting just 28.3% from 3-point range during its losing streak. The Tigers have gone three straight games with six made 3s or fewer. They haven’t made more than eight since sinking 11 3s against Duke on Jan. 25, which was seven games ago.

Brownell admitted there have been “a few bad ones.” But, for the most part, he said getting quality looks from deep hasn’t been the issue.

“The last two games (against Notre Dame and Duke), we have five and six turnovers, and we only score in the low 60s because we don’t make enough shots,” Brownell said. “It’s hard. It’s not like we’re not executing things. That’s the frustrating part. … When we go back and analyze it, we’re getting the ball to places where we like, and we’re just not making enough shots to be consistent to win.”

Clemson’s final possession against FSU was a prime example. After Evans converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Seminoles the lead with 14.4 seconds left, Brownell called a timeout with 4 ticks remaining once Clemson got the ball past halfcourt to draw up one last play.

Hunter inbounded the ball to Hall near the wing. As Hall tried to drive toward the basket, three defenders converged on him, leaving Alex Hemenway alone near the corner. Hall found him for a clean look at the buzzer, but Hemenway’s shot bounced off the front of the rim, capping a 2-of-8 shooting night from deep for a 39.5% 3-point shooter.

“We had obviously our best shooter coming open,” Brownell said. “Alex got a wide-open shot. It’s as good a shot as you’re going to get under the circumstances. He makes it a lot, and unfortunately it was short and didn’t go.”

Clemson’s next opportunity to end its late-season slide will come Saturday at Louisville. More consistent complementary play from the backcourt would go a long way in helping the Tigers’ chances.

“We have to do better,” Brownell said.

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An opportunity gone awry for Clemson hoops

Brad Brownell didn’t want to talk about it much after Clemson’s most recent win. Not because the Tigers’ men’s basketball coach wasn’t aware of what was looming. But because it wasn’t the next order of business for his team. “We’ve got to be ready …

Brad Brownell didn’t want to talk about it much after Clemson’s most recent win.

Not because the Tigers’ men’s basketball coach wasn’t aware of what was looming. But because it wasn’t the next order of business for his team.

“We’ve got to be ready for Georgia Tech next,” Brownell said following Clemson’s win over Florida State on Wednesday. “They’re a feisty group.”

The victory over the Seminoles was not only a Quadrant 2 victory for Clemson – its fourth such win this season – but it was also the Tigers’ second victory in a three-game stretch that had seen their play improve, particularly on the defensive end. It started with a 27-point thrashing of Pittsburgh three Saturdays ago before Clemson traveled to Cameron Indoor Stadium and gave No. 9 Duke all it wanted in a two-point loss.

It seemingly gave Clemson (12-10, 4-7 ACC) some much-needed momentum at a critical time. Wednesday’s win began a stretch of four of five games at home for the Tigers, who have a rematch with Duke (Thursday) as well as matchups with North Carolina (Tuesday) and Notre Dame (Saturday) awaiting them at Littlejohn Coliseum next week. If Clemson had a chance to make a late push to get back in the bubble conversation for the NCAA Tournament, this was it.

That is, as long as the Tigers took care of business on the road Saturday against a Georgia Tech team that began the day looking up at everybody else in the ACC standings. But that didn’t happen.

In their first game without veteran forward Hunter Tyson, who’s out indefinitely after breaking his clavicle against FSU, the Tigers dropped a five-point decision in what was just Tech’s third conference win of the season. Fellow forward Naz Bohannon (nine points on 4 of 6 shooting, eight rebounds) helped pick up the slack in Tyson’s absence in his first start of the season. PJ Hall and Al-Amir Dawes chipped in 18 points apiece, but a sluggish start against the Yellow Jackets’ zone defense – Clemson shot just 36% in the first 20 minutes en route to a 33-20 deficit at the half – ultimately proved too much to overcome.

Brownell said Hall got even less practice time than usual leading into Saturday’s game. Clemson’s leading scorer, who scored all but two of his points after halftime, has been dealing with foot inflammation throughout the season.

“Lot of poor decisions and passing,” Brownell said. “I thought PJ Hall looked a little slow. He didn’t practice leading into the game, which isn’t good. We usually try to get him 30 minutes before a game, but the trainer said we couldn’t do that, so I didn’t think he was as good early.

“We played much better in the second half in terms of answering the zone, but their kids made enough plays to win. They were just better than us.”

Clemson made a run to get within a possession or two late, but the Tigers’ last poor decisions came from Dawes, who deflected a pass leading to a steal in a four-point game with 35 seconds left before giving it right back to the Yellow Jackets a few seconds later. Tech made three free throws in the final 25 seconds to salt away the win.

“An open-court, bad play that should’ve been a basket,” Brownell said. “We had an advantage. Again, we just didn’t make enough good basketball decisions today, and it cost us.”

Not only back-to-back wins, but likely any real chance to put together a resume strong enough to get to the NCAA Tournament.

Getting back in the at-large conversation was going to be difficult anyway in a watered-down ACC, particularly without Tyson. With just five weeks left until Selection Sunday, Clemson still doesn’t have a single Quad 1 win while the loss to Tech is another ugly blemish. Only the Tigers’ Quad 4 loss to Boston College has been worse from a NET perspective this season.

Only one of next week’s games (Duke) is a Quad 1 opportunity, but all three of them are against teams in the first two quadrants. Had Clemson won Saturday and avoided another bad loss in the process, it was shaping up to be a week where the Tigers could have at least made things interesting with a couple more wins on their home floor if not more.

Now, with more Quad 3 and Quad 4 losses (four combined) than Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins (three), Clemson is likely relegated to playing for pride and upsets rather than resume builders.

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Hall, Dawes Net 18 Each in 69-64 Loss at Georgia Tech

PJ Hall (Spartanburg, S.C./Dorman) and Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J./The Patrick School) combined for 36 points, including 31 in the second half in Clemson University men’s basketball’s 69-64 loss at Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers …

PJ Hall (Spartanburg, S.C./Dorman) and Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J./The Patrick School) combined for 36 points, including 31 in the second half in Clemson University men’s basketball’s 69-64 loss at Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers (12-10, 4-7 ACC) were led by both Hall and Dawes’ 18 points. Naz Bohannon (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain) nearly totaled his first double-double of the season with nine points and eight boards in his first start of the campaign.

Hall added eight boards to his 9-of-15 shooting from the floor to tie Bohannon for the team lead on the glass.

The Yellow Jackets (10-12, 3-8 ACC) netted 23 points off of 18 Tiger turnovers and also received 37 points from its bench in the narrow victory.

Down by as many as 16 in the opening stanza, Clemson worked its way back into the game and trailed by just four before a costly turnover helped Georgia Tech keep Clemson at bay.

Clemson returns to the floor for what begins a stretch of three home games in five days. Clemson hosts North Carolina on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. The game will air on ACCN.

‘Everything is up for discussion’ as Clemson tries to snap out of sudden funk

After another setback that has his team riding its longest losing streak of the season, Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell isn’t ruling anything out that might help keep the reeling to a minimum. “Everything is up for discussion right …

“Everything is up for discussion right now,” Brownell said. “We’re not playing well enough.”

Clemson (10-8, 2-5 ACC) lost for the fourth time in five games late Tuesday night when Syracuse dealt the Tigers a 91-78 blow inside the Carrier Dome. It was Clemson’s third straight loss, a funk that escalated quickly.

This time a week ago, the Tigers were coming off their fifth win in six games after knocking off North Carolina State on the road. Since then, Clemson has been beaten by nearly 11 points on average, including that loss to Boston College over the weekend that the Tigers led by 23 at one point.

Syracuse handed Clemson its second-largest margin of defeat this season despite the Tigers getting a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double from PJ Hall, 18 points from David Collins and 11 points off the bench from Chase Hunter. The primary issue for Clemson during its skid has been getting stops.

Clemson has allowed at least 70 points in every game of its losing streak while Notre Dame, Boston College and Syracuse each shot better than 45% from the field. The Orange made those numbers look pedestrian. Syracuse, which got 48 combined points from guards Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard III, sank 53.4% of its shots en route to its highest point total against an ACC foe this season.

Brownell said the primary issue is a lack of size and physicality from his team on the defensive end of the floor, allowing opposing players to frequently get their shots off from wherever they’re trying to get on the floor. It’s a deficiency that Brownell said may have to be addressed, at least in part, off the court.

“We’re physically a little weak,” Brownell said. “We’re physically smaller and weaker, and some of that is a product of recruiting. We’ve got to think about that. Now obviously what you get on the other hand is you get some skill. You get guys that can shoot. You get guys that can pass. And that’s why offensively we’ve got a bunch of guys that shoot a high percentage from 3.

“We scored 78 (Tuesday), but we miss Aamir Simms’ defense drastically. Just his physicality, smarts, toughness. And some other guys, too. We just had bigger, stronger dudes in some spots. And then we’re not going getting some other guys that played well last year, we’re not playing as well defensively right now. I’ve got to coach that better.”

Brownell has recently made a change with the personnel on this year’s team. Nick Honor and Al-Amir Dawes started together for the first half of the season in Clemson’s backcourt, but junior guard Alex Hemenway, at 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, replaced the 5-10 Honor in the starting lineup two games ago in an effort to get more size on the perimeter.

“Guys shoot over top of us some,” Brownell said. “That’s not lack of effort. That’s just a lack of some strength and size.”

But Hemenway hasn’t done much in that starting role, combining for just six points on 2 of 9 shooting in the last two games. Foul trouble limited him to just 13 minutes against Syracuse while Honor had eight points, five assists and just one turnover in 26 minutes off the bench.

Brownell didn’t rule out the possibility of more personnel changes when Clemson hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday.

“(Hemenway) is trying hard, but the results aren’t there,” Brownell said. “Whether we stick with it or not, I don’t know. We could move Chase into the starting lineup. Chase has played better, but sometimes it’s nice to have Chase off the bench because he could play the 2 (shooting guard) or play the 3 (wing).”

Brownell said he’s not worried about losing his team during this rough patch, adding the Tigers had “two really good practices” in preparation for Tuesday’s game. But Clemson could use the pick-me-up of that translating over to the game.

And soon.

“Our team is wounded. We’re disappointed,” Brownell said. “Obviously the Boston College loss hurt. We wanted to play well (Tuesday) and get a win, and we didn’t get a win. It’s hard.”

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Clemson coughs up sizable lead in loss to Boston College

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 …

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.

Turnovers, scoring droughts doom Clemson in tough loss vs. West Virginia

It happened again. After taking a commanding lead, Clemson (4-2) fell a part down the stretch with a chance to earn a resume-building win agaisnt West Virginia Behind scoring droughts and turnovers, the Tigers couldn’t get out their way, allowing …

It happened again.

After taking a commanding lead, Clemson (4-2) fell a part down the stretch with a chance to earn a resume-building win agaisnt West Virginia

Behind scoring droughts and turnovers, the Tigers couldn’t get out their way, allowing West Virgina room to rally back for an 66-59 victory in the third round of the Charleston Classic.

The Tigers led St. Bonaventure by 16 points on Friday. They also led West Virgina by 10 points on Sunday night with 14 miuntes left. They wound up losing both games.

Clemson was able to dominate Sunday’s game offensively for the first 10 minutes, but between a seven-minute scoring drought and costly mental errors — 10 turnovers — that allowed West Virginia to take a 1-point lead heading into the break.

After shooting just 2-of-11 from the field in Clemson’s 68-65 loss to No. 22 St. Bonaventure on Friday, Al-Amir Dawes bounced back.

In his postgame press conference Friday, Clemson coach Brad Brownell indicated that he gives Dawes some leniency when it comes to shot taking. While he’d obviously like the decision-making to be better at times, Clemson firmly believes that the good from Dawes outweighs the bad.

Sunday was proof of that, at least for 25 minutes of the game, as he went completely cold in the second half. Dawes scored 18 points, but he also turned over the ball six times.

His lack of offensive presnce conrtibuted to Clemson falling a part in the game’s final eight minutes.

Right out of the gate in the second half, Clemson came out firing on all cylinders. After coming out flat in for the final 20 minutes against the Bonnies on Friday, Clemson wanted to avoid a repeat of letting another winnable game slip away.

The Tigers jumped out to a 15-6 run to start off the game’s second frame. And while they were able to jump out to a 10-point lead, the Tigers had way too many empty possessions plagued by turnovers, allowing for the Mountaineers to eventually make their run.

At one point, the Tigers turned it over on five straight possessions.

Down the stretch of Sunday’s contest, P.J. Hall, Clemson’s leading scorer, and rebounder had to pull himself out of the game. Hall was clearly fatigued playing in his third game in four days. After taking a breather, he checked himself back into the game as a once-commanding 10-point lead dwindled down to just a possession.

While Hall found his way back onto the court, West Virginia took a 13-2 run to take a eventual 4-point lead at 60-56. Clemson went five miuntes without a basket.

It proved to be foretelling.

Clemson shoots past Bryant in rout

Clemson’s men’s basketball team didn’t have much trouble staying perfect Monday. The Tigers carved up Bryant’s zone defense and eventually tightened things up on the defensive end to beat the Bulldogs, 93-70, at Littlejohn Coliseum. Hunter Tyson led …

Clemson’s men’s basketball team didn’t have much trouble staying perfect Monday.

The Tigers carved up Bryant’s zone defense and eventually tightened things up on the defensive end to beat the Bulldogs, 93-70, at Littlejohn Coliseum. Hunter Tyson led five double-figure scorers for Clemson (3-0) with 20 points while Nick Honor added 16 points and seven assists for the Tigers, who, for the first time this season, didn’t have to overcome a second-half deficit.

PJ Hall added 14 points in 24 minutes while added Al-Amir Dawes and David Collins chipped in 11 and 10, respectively, for Clemson, which added to a 12-point halftime lead by shooting a season-high 56% from the field. The Tigers went inside and out against the Bulldogs’ 2-3 zone, scoring 40 points in the paint and knocking down a season-high 10 3-pointers. Hall, fresh off a 21-point outing against Wofford on Friday, finished 7 of 13 from the field while Tyson, Honor and Dawes had the hot hands from distance, combining to shoot 8 of 13 from beyond the arc.

Peter Kiss led Bryant (1-2) with 24 points while Chris Childs chipped in 15, but Clemson led by as many as 26 thanks to its defense eventually catching up to the offense. The Tigers held Bryant to just two 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes, a stark contrast to a first half that saw the Bulldogs make more than 53% of their shots.

Clemson finished with 20 assists on 35 made baskets. Collins also had nine rebounds for the Tigers, who finished plus-12 (39-27) on the boards.

Clemson came out humming against Bryant’s defense, getting almost any look it wanted with crisp ball movement. The Tigers made a point to work it inside to Hall, who had 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting to go along with five rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

Tyson complemented that with 11 points as the Tigers shot better than 63% from the floor in the first half. But Bryant got hot from deep to stay close early.

The Bulldogs, behind Kiss’ 17 first-half points, made seven of eight shots at one point with four of those baskets coming from 3-point range. Bryant sank seven 3s in the opening 20 minutes and ripped off a quick 16-7 run to take a 30-28 lead on Kiss’ layup with 6 minutes, 53 seconds left in the half.

But Tyson answered with a corner 3 on Clemson’s next possession, which ignited another surge for the Tigers. Clemson sank a trio of 3s in the final 2:29, including Dawes’ buzzer-beater, and ended the half on a 24-10 run for a 52-40 advantage at the break.

The Tigers held Bryant to one bucket over the first 6 minutes and change coming out of the locker room, and back-to-back 3s from Honor capped a 17-8 spurt that gave Clemson a 21-point lead with 13:15 left. The Tigers cruised from there.

Clemson will now take its show on the road for the first time this season. The Tigers will face Temple on Thursday in the first round of the Charleston Classic.

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