CLEMSON BASKETBALL

Booker scores 22 as Tigers drop Bucs

Booker scores 22 as Tigers drop Bucs


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CLEMSON, SC – Devin Booker scored a career-high 22 points and Clemson held

East Tennessee State to 26 points in the second half in a 65-58 victory

over the Buccaneers on Sunday at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers overcame

a four-point halftime deficit and a nine-point disadvantage in the second

half alone. It was Clemson’s second come-from-behind win in the last

three games. Clemson improved to 8-6 with the win, while ETSU fell to 5-7

overall.

Booker made 8-of-12 from the floor and six of his eight attempts at the

free throw line for his 22-point total. His previous best was 16 points,

which he accomplished four times. Booker added seven rebounds and four

blocked shots in 38 minutes of play. Also in double figures Sunday for

the Tigers was freshman T.J. Sapp, who earned his fourth start of the

season. He responded in a positive manner, hitting 4-of-5 from behind the

arc. He matched his season-best with 13 points.

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said he was proud of the effort.

“I’m proud of our guys. It was a back-and-forth type of game,” Brownelll said. “We were

executing well early, but we had a little spell where we had some unforced

turnovers and they took advantage. We missed some shots around the basket

early in the second half, and I thought it could get away from us a little

bit. Our defense kept us in it until we made a run. We got ourselves

together and finished the game the right way.”

Andre Young hit two three-pointers in the second half, giving him 199 for

his career, and finished the game with 12 points. He added eight

rebounds, seven assists and a steal in a fine all-around effort.

ETSU senior Adam Sollazzo surpassed his career-high in scoring with 27

points on 8-of-16 field goals and 9-of-12 free throws. He was supported

by backcourt mate and fellow senior Tommy Hubbard, who totaled 19 points

and eight rebounds in 36 minutes.

The Tigers came out strong against the Bucs’ zone defense, hitting their

first three three-point attempts for a 6-2 lead. After a Murry Bartow

timeout, the lead changed hands multiple times even before the first media

timeout. Sollazzo scored seven straight points to give ETSU an 11-10

lead, but Sapp swished his second straight long-range attempt on a Booker

rebound to put Clemson ahead again.

The lead changed hands 11 times in the first 10 minutes of the opening

half, the last of which was a pair of free throws by Booker that put

Clemson ahead by a score of 20-19. Clemson suffered a first-half drought

that lasted over six minutes, as ETSU was able to take a 24-21 lead during

the stretch. Smith broke the drought with a driving layup at the 4:54

mark.

Clemson held the Bucs without a field goal for nearly four minutes, but

Hubbard intercepted a Smith pass and took it the length of the floor for a

three-point play to give ETSU a four-point lead at intermission.

ETSU scored the first four points of the second frame, thus putting

together a 7-0 run in a span of just three minutes. Clemson had two

turnovers and missed five shots in the first three minutes of the second

half, prompting a timeout from Brad Brownell after the Bucs’ lead was

extended to nine.

Milton Jennings sparked an 8-0 run that gave Clemson a 44-43 lead with

11:28 left after Young sank his 198th career three-pointer from the right

wing. Jennings had a steal off Clemson’s fullcourt press and also had an

inside feed to Booker, who nailed a left-handed banker.

Sheldon Cooley put ETSU back ahead after a pair of baskets, the second of

which was a spinning shot in the lane that rattled in for a 47-46

advantage. Sapp put Clemson up a pair with his fourth long ball of the

game, and then Jennings followed with his third block of the game. The

Tigers then had a hit ahead on the break to Booker, who had an emphatic

slam to push the lead to 51-47.

After ETSU cut the lead to two, Tanner Smith jumped Sollazzo at midcourt

and took a steal the distance for a gentle jam to make it 53-49 in favor

of the Tigers with 3:26 remaining. Young gave the Tigers their biggest

lead at 56-49 on a rainbow three-pointer on a Jennings assist. Young

hit two free throws to make it an even bigger deficit for ETSU at 60-51.

Brownell said the plan was to get Booker involved.

“We thought Devin (Booker) could get inside of their zone,” Brownell said. “Our guys did a

great job of finding Devin and giving him opportunities. We did turn the

ball over some trying to get the ball to him. I was okay with some of

that because we needed to get him the ball.”

The Tigers open ACC play next weekend at home. Florida State will visit

Clemson on Saturday, Jan. 7 in a 4:00 PM game televised by ESPN2.


Official Basketball Box Score

East Tennessee State vs Clemson

1/1/12 4:00 PM at Clemson, SC (Littlejohn Coliseum)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VISITORS: East Tennessee State 5-7

TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS

## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN

41 Brown, Isiah........ f 1-5 0-0 0-2 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 2 23

02 Jones, Jarvis....... g 1-1 1-1 0-2 0 2 2 2 3 1 1 0 1 24

13 Hubbard, Tommy...... g 7-12 1-3 4-5 0 8 8 3 19 1 3 1 1 36

23 Dubose, Marcus...... g 1-4 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 2 2 0 2 0 0 20

43 Sollazzo, Adam...... g 8-16 2-3 9-12 1 5 6 2 27 5 8 0 0 39

05 Cooley, Sheldon..... 2-5 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 4 0 2 0 2 21

21 Walton, John........ 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 12

34 Poderis, Lukas...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 4 0 1 1 1 0 25

TEAM................ 2 3 5

Totals.............. 20-44 4-8 14-23 7 23 30 19 58 9 20 3 7 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-23 47.8% 2nd Half: 9-21 42.9% Game: 45.5% DEADB

3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 50.0% REBS

F Throw % 1st Half: 8-11 72.7% 2nd Half: 6-12 50.0% Game: 60.9% 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOME TEAM: Clemson 8-6

TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS

## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN

24 Jennings, Milton.... f 2-7 0-1 3-6 0 5 5 3 7 3 2 3 3 35

31 Booker, Devin....... f 8-12 0-0 6-8 4 3 7 2 22 1 0 4 1 38

01 Sapp, T.J........... g 4-9 4-5 1-2 1 2 3 1 13 2 1 0 3 31

05 Smith, Tanner....... g 4-12 1-5 0-2 2 3 5 3 9 4 6 0 3 32

11 Young, Andre........ g 3-8 2-6 4-4 1 7 8 4 12 7 4 0 1 37

04 Hall, Rod........... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 4

10 Baciu, Catalin...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

21 Narcisse, Bryan..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 3 1 1 15

22 Sullivan, Bernard... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

32 McDaniels, K.J...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5

TEAM................ 1 1 2

Totals.............. 22-50 7-18 14-22 9 21 30 16 65 18 16 8 14 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 37.0% 2nd Half: 12-23 52.2% Game: 44.0% DEADB

3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 38.9% REBS

F Throw % 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 10-13 76.9% Game: 63.6% 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Officials: Mike Eades, Ron Groover, Brian Shey

Technical fouls: East Tennessee State-None. Clemson-None.

Attendance: 6287

Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total

East Tennessee State.......... 32 26 - 58

Clemson....................... 28 37 - 65

ETSU Bench receives coaches box warning at 10:41 of 1st half.

Points in the paint-ETSU 28,CU 28. Points off turnovers-ETSU 13,CU 11.

2nd chance points-ETSU 5,CU 16. Fast break points-ETSU 6,CU 8.

Bench points-ETSU 5,CU 2. Score tied-6 times. Lead changed-17 times.

Last FG-ETSU 2nd-00:06, CU 2nd-01:26.

Largest lead-ETSU by 9 2nd-17:19, CU by 10 2nd-00:12.

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