Story by Matt Smith
Clemson entered Saturday needing a win to cool the burn from three consecutive losses. The Tigers got the relief they needed with a 76-66 victory over Boston College. Marcquise Reed led the charge, scoring a career-high 31 points on 11 of 21 shooting. Much of Reed’s damage came from behind the 3-point line, where the senior knocked down 5 of 7 attempts.
Clemson improves to 16-11, 6-8 ACC. The game featured ten lead changes before the Tigers were able to pull away late. Reed had a personal 7-0 run with a hanging jump shot, a 3-pointer from the elbow and a pair of free throws to give Clemson its first double-digit lead of the game with 1:43 remaining.
Elijah Thomas registered a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Shelton Mitchell and Aamir Simms scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. In addition to picking up its sixth conference win, Clemson ran its record at Littlejohn Coliseum to 12-3.
Clemson coach Brad Brownell said they needed the big game they got from their leading scorer, “Reed was dynamite. He was just spectacular today. Played the whole 40 minutes and he could probably play 20 or 30 more. He’s just wired that way.”
Boston College’s top scoring threat Ty Bowman had 17 points, but struggled to find rhythm going just 6 of 21 from the floor. Clemson, meanwhile, shot 52% overall and 47% on 3-pointers.
Brownell said, “I thought today we were just really efficient and the we let the ball do the work. The ball makes the defense move and we did that today.”
Clemson is next in action at Pittsburgh, Wednesday at 7 pm.
Brad Brownell postgame press conference
Aamir Simms and Marcquise Reed postgame press conference
