CLEMSON - The Clemson basketball team’s slim hopes for a regular season ACC Championship took a more-than-likely fatal hit Wednesday night, and in the process made a crazy Atlantic Coast Conference season a little crazier.
The Virginia Tech Hokies (17-10, 7-6) got 26 points from Malcolm Delaney and 21 points from A.D. Vassallo in beating the 12th-ranked Clemson Tigers (22-5, 8-5) 80-77 in a physical contest at Littlejohn Coliseum, leaving the Tigers tied with Florida St. at 8-5 for third in the ACC, with a game at Fla. St. looming this Saturday.
“It was very physical, but not the most physical game we have played,” Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell said. “The Virginia Tech guys did a really good job of playing physically. I give them credit. We came out of the blocks well, but they were tough and came up with big plays.”
The Tigers trailed by three with just 12.5 seconds remaining in the game, and Clemson called for their “Hook” play, which is designed to get Terrence Oglesby the ball for a chance at a 3-pointer. But Oglesby was covered tight by Dorenzo Hudson at the top left of the key, and with a defender behind him as well, Oglesby passed to Demontez Stitt, who was unable to get a clean look at a tying 3-pointer.
“That is where we wanted to go,” Purnell said of Oglesby, who hit six 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 22 points. “He had some room I thought, but passed it off to Stitt. He was definitely our first option.”
Oglesby said he had three guys around him, and that picking up the dribble made Stitt his only option on the play.
“I had three guys around me, and I was an idiot and picked up my dribble,” Oglesby said. “If I could have gotten rid of it and gotten it back that would have been great, but there was not that much time left on the clock. I should have done a better job of taking another dribble and going up with it.”
The Tigers jumped out to a quick 14-7 lead on the Hokies in the first half, but Tech would battle back to take a 20-19 lead. Clemson came back with a run of its own, and led by as many as five before the half, which saw the Tigers clinging to a tenuous 38-35 lead.
The Hokies then did to the Tigers what the Tigers have been doing to opponents recently - knocking down 3-pointers with impunity. Delaney hit two 3-pointers and Vassallo hit three treys coming out of the break, but K.C. Rivers hit two of his own for the Tigers and the teams were tied at 54 after a Stitt drive and lay-in with 13:17 remaining.
The Hokies then went up 58-55 on two Vassallo free throws, but Terrence Oglesby hit Stitt for a layup, then stole the inbounds pass and was fouled, hitting both free throws, for a 59-58 Clemson lead. Hank Thorns then scored five consecutive points for the Hokies as part of a 10-2 run that saw Tech take a 68-61 lead with just under 10 minutes on the game clock.
Booker, who scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, was just 2-for-9 in the second half, but had trouble getting a clean shot because of the physical play of the Hokies, including several plays in which it appeared he was fouled but got a no-call.
Oglesby hit a free throw and back-to-back treys that tied the game at 68 with 7:02 remaining, but Delaney scored five of the Hokies’ next seven points for a 77-72 lead with a little over three minutes left. Oglesby once again answered with a 3-pointer, but Vassallo hit a free throw with 1:29 remaining for a 78-75 Hokie lead.
The Tigers got a quick rebound on a Delaney miss and a Booker lay-up with 20.5 seconds remaining to cut the margin to just one, at 78-77, with Stitt missed shots in the lane on the next two possessions and Vassallo hit two free throws with 12.5 seconds left to set up the last missed Clemson shot.
For the game, 46 total fouls were called (24 on Clemson, 22 on the Hokies), but 44 of those fouls were called in the first 35 minutes, with only two (both on Clemson) called in the last five minutes of the contest.
“These games have really turned into great games,” Hokie head coach Seth Greenberg said. “They (Clemson) play so hard, and they are so well-coached, and you really have to kind of scrum around. I am really proud of our guys. We really made a point of telling them to go out and play hard and play tough, and we did that.”
The Tigers now have three games remaining in the season, road games at FSU and Wake Forest sandwiched around the home finale against Virginia next Tuesday, and Oglesby said that there is no doubt what the Clemson mindset will be.
“We need to win all three, that is the bottom line,” Oglesby said. “We are going to come out tomorrow and practice as hard as we can and get ready for Florida St. They are not playing too bad right now either, and we need to step and get better at the little things we have been so good at in our wins this year.”
Stitt had 14 points and Rivers 11 as the only other Tigers in double figures. Rivers also had 10 rebounds.
VISITORS: Virginia Tech 17-10, 7-6
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