Virginia Just Barely Edges No. 19 Clemson

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CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) -Jason Cain's tip-in with 15.5 seconds left capped a 16-point comeback over the final nine minutes to lift Virginia to a 64-63 victory over No. 19 Clemson on Sunday.

The Cavaliers (13-6, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 61-45 after Cliff Hammonds' 3-pointer with 8:47 to go. But Clemson was held to two foul shots the rest of the way.

It was the second straight improbable defeat for Clemson (18-4, 4-4), which lost at Duke 68-66 on David McClure's layup with no time remaining this past Thursday night when officials incorrectly added time after the Tigers had tied things.

The Tigers seemed to have recovered strongly in this one, moving out to a double-digit lead. That's when Virginia put together it's rally.

J.R. Reynolds' 3 brought the Cavaliers within 63-55. Then Sean Singletary had a bucket and Adrian Joseph hit a three and another jumper to make it 63-62.

After Clemson's K.C. Rivers stepped out of bounds, Joseph attempted an outside shot and in the scramble, Cain got a strong tip for the victory. It was Cain's only basket of the game.

Vernon Hamilton's shot missed for Clemson and Virginia was able to run out the clock.

Reynolds led Virginia with 18 points, while Singletary and Joseph had 11 each.

Hamilton had 16 points to lead Clemson.

Neither team could gain enough momentum to break away in an opening half that saw the lead change hands 11 times.

Tiger guards Hamilton and Hammonds connected near the end of the period, though, to send Clemson into the break ahead 34-30.

Hamilton hit a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left and, after a timeout, Hammonds drove around the left side of Virginia's defense for a layup with about 6 seconds to go.

The Tigers had a much smaller time-clock problem at home. After matching technicals were handed out to Virginia's Singletary and Clemson's Booker, the Tigers started to inbound the ball and the shot clock reset to 35.

Before play began, though, officials reduced that to 17 seconds and the Littlejohn fans booed loudly, no doubt venting too about the Duke fiasco days earlier.

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