Basketball
HALL RETURNS, CLEMSON BEATS VA TECH 63-59 ON SENIOR DAY FOR 4TH STRAIGHT WIN
- 2022-03-06 04:52:20
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CLEMSON, SC - The Tigers concluded the regular season slate on Saturday, honoring seniors Hunter Tyson and Parker Fox along with grad transfers David Collins and Naz Bohannon. The Tigers won their 3rd straight game on Wednesday against Georgia Tech, when Hunter Tyson made his return off the bench after missing about a month with a broken clavicle. Tyson returned to the starting lineup on Saturday, and PJ Hall made his return off the bench after missing 4 games with an injured foot. Hall played just 4 minutes in the 1st half, scoring 2 points, but he scored 10 points in 10 minutes in the second half.
The Hokies came in red-hot and just a game out of 6th place in the ACC standings. They led for most of the first half and by 9 with just over a minute before halftime, but the Tigers went on a 6-0 run to make it 33-30 at the half and give the home team some momentum going into the locker room.
The Tigers would carry that momentum into the second half, with a dunk and a jumper by Hall to give the Tigers their first lead since it was 18-15. That set the tone for the second half that would be controlled mostly by the Tigers, although they would never lead by more than 6. A pivotal point came in the second half when Dawes made back-to-back 3's off of offensive rebounds by freshmen Middlebrooks and Shieffelin after missing his first 3 attempts from the arc. Shortly after, Hemenway, who led the team in scoring at the half, hit a 3 to give the Tigers the lead with 11:30 left, and they would not trail the rest of the game. Fittingly, senior Hunter Tyson made the shot of the game, a short jumper to give the Tigers a 3-point lead with 32 seconds left. After getting a stop on the defensive end, Chase Hunter was fouled and made the front end of his one-and-one to seal the 63-59 win. Ironically, it was the only point of the game for Hunter, who had carried the Tigers with career games against Wake and Boston College.
Despite playing just 13 minutes, Hall managed to led the team with 12 points in his first game back from injury. Hemenway scored 11 with Dawes and Collins each adding 10. The Tigers were 8-20 (40%) from the arc and 13-16 from the free throw line.
The resilient Tigers have won 4 straight to finish the regular season and could do some serious damage in the ACC Tournament now that they have all of their starters back. Remember, they lost by just 2 at Duke, nearly beat UNC and won by 17 at UVA. The only team that has really had their number this season is Notre Dame, but another team may knock off the Irish. While it's unlikely that the Tigers will make a run to win their first-ever ACC Tournament for an automatic NCAA bid, iff they stay healthy, it wouldn't surprise me if the Tigers won the NIT because they are better than many teams that will make the NCAA Tournament.
Post-game interviews and highlights are below!
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