Littlejohn Coliseum: Red hot Virginia was too much for Clemson to tame Saturday as the Cavaliers won 66-65 for their sixth straight win.
PJ Hall hit three free throws to cut the deficit to one with 7.5 seconds to play and Virginia missed the front end of a one-and-one. Chase Hunter drove the length of the court but elected to dump it off to Jack Clark for a three. Clark missed as time expired, and Virginia held on for the win. Clemson didn’t make a field goal in the final 5:36 of the game.
The Tigers fall to 14-7 overall and 4-6 in the ACC while Virginia improved to 17-5 and 8-4. Hall led Clemson with 19 points, while Joseph Girard III, Chase Hunter and Ian Schieffelin were all in double figures. Virginia had three players in double figures.
Virginia out-shot Clemson 44-percent to 36-percent and out-rebounded the Tigers 37 to 32. The Tigers stayed within two points of Virginia for the first part of the opening half, but a four-minute scoring drought that saw the Cavaliers hit five-of six allowed Virginia to open up a 27-16 lead with 5:39 to play in the first half.
Josh Beadle and Joseph Girard III hit back-to-back threes to start an 8-0 Clemson run to cut the lead to 27-4, but Virginia ended the half with a 7-2 run to open the lead back up to 34-26 at halftime. The Tigers and Cavaliers traded baskets to open the second half, but Clemson – aided by four Hall free throws – went on a quick 6-0 run to cut the deficit to two at 42-40 with 13:41 to play, but Virginia answered with nine points over the next two minutes to move the lead back to six at 51-45 with 11:30 to go.
Virginia’s Reece Beekman scored his 1,000th career point on a pair of free throws in the second half. Over the next four minutes, Clemson went on a 10-4 run that included a three-pointer at the top of the key from Hall – his first of the game to give the Tigers a 58-57 lead with 5:36 to play. It was Clemson’s first lead since it led 8-7 early in the first half. Virginia went on an 8-2 run of its own to reclaim the lead at 64-60 that was too much for Clemson to overcome.
The Tigers travel to Chapel Hill Tuesday night for a meeting with the third-ranked Tar Heels at 7 p.m. in the Dean Dome.
Story by Nikki Hood
Final Stats
