Tigers use big second half from Dawes to defeat scrappy Presbyterian

Al-Amir Dawes scored 21 to lead all scorers.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Nov 09 22:22:47 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – Clemson outscored Presbyterian 40-21 in the second half and got a game-high 21 points from Al-Amir Dawes in coming back to defeat Presbyterian 64-53 in the season opener for both teams at Littlejohn Coliseum Tuesday night.

The Tigers trailed by eight at the half, but Dawes scored 16 of his 21 in the second half and Clemson used an 18-2 run to pull away from the determined Blue Hose. Clemson shot 21-45 from the field (46.7 percent), hit 8-19 from 3-point range (42.1 percent), but was just 14-25 (56 percent) from the free throw line.

Hunter Tyson and newcomer David Collins each scored 14 as the other Tigers in double figures. Tyson added seven rebounds while PJ led the Tigers with eight.

Clemson is now 1-0 on the season while Presbyterian falls to 0-1. Clemson is now 59-18-1 all-time against Presbyterian, including 38-8-1 in Clemson. The Tigers have won 10 straight in the series, which dates back to the 1954-55 season.

Clemson has won 36-out-of-37 games to open a season, which dates back to the 1985-86 season. Head coach Brad Brownell is 11-1 in season openers at Clemson.

Brownell said he hopes his team can build off the strong second half.

“I hope that that’s something we can build on because I think it’s important,” Brownell said. "There’s no question we were a little shell shocked in the timeouts in the first half. We didn’t have a great shootaround today. We shoot in the mornings. We didn’t have a great shootaround this morning, and I was a little disappointed and challenged our guys and told them this was a great learning lesson. It’s not easy to show that kind of maturity.

“Their size and athleticism and pressure initially probably surprised us a little bit. We knew they were going to be good and athletic, but I didn’t know they would guard as hard as they did initially, so we weren’t probably quite as ready for it in the first half. I thought we made some adjustments and that was really good and played much better, played a really good second half.”

Brownell said Dawes has a chance to be a player that can carry the team.

“There’s going to be games where he’s that guy. I think that’s going to be different all the time for this team,” Brownell said. “He’s a guy that’s going to be in certain situations where it’s going to be him, could be PJ, Hunter, (David Collins). I think we have some guys that can do it, capable. I don’t know if he’s a guy that can do it every night. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

The teams traded baskets and the lead in the early going, and the score was tied at 11-11 after Nick Honor hit a layup off the fast break. Brandon Younger hit a 3-pointer to put PC ahead 14-11, but USF transfer Collins hit a layup that made it 14-13 PC with 7:21 to play in the first half.

However, Presbyterian then went on a 7-0 run over the next 90 seconds and led 21-13 after Younger hit a layup with a little over five minutes to play. When Younger hit a layup with 1:19 to play Presbyterian held its biggest lead of the half at 30-19. Hunter Tyson hit a 3-pointer and then hit a short shot at the elbow as time expired to pull the Tigers to within 32-24 at intermission. Clemson hit just 7-15 free throws in the half.

The Tigers and Tyson picked up where they left off and quickly trimmed the PC advantage to 32-28 to start the second half, but the Blue Hose. However, PC went on a quick 6-0 spurt to push the advantage to 10 at 38-28. The next four minutes were all Clemson and Dawes hit an old-fashioned 3-pointer that ended a 12-1 Clemson run, pushing the Tigers back in front 41-39.

Presbyterian led 44-43 when Dawed nailed a 3-pointer from the corner that put Clemson ahead 46-44, and when Dawes hit another trey from the same spot a minute later, the Blue Hose were forced into a timeout trailing 49-44.

The Tigers, smelling blood in the water, continued to push the ball up the court and either hit baskets in transition or find open looks beyond the arc. When PJ Hall and Dawes hit back-to-back 3-pointers, it put a punctuation mark on an 18-2 run that gave the Tigers a 61-46 lead with just over five minutes to play.

Clemson returns to the court Friday night, hosting Wofford at 7 pm (ACC Network Extra).