Oregon St defeats Tigers 53-35; Lowest Tiger output since 1970

by Tommy Hood - Correspondent - Sun Nov 28 18:08:54 GMT-04:00 1999

GREENVILLE, SC -- Clemson coach Larry Shyatt should think long and hard before bringing his team back to the BiLo Center.

Instead of serving as a friendly home away from home, it's turned into a house of horrors.

The Tigers lost, 53-35, to Oregon State on Sunday in the third round of the SoCon Holiday Hoops tournament, ending the tournament with a 1-2 record.

Clemson went away quietly. The Tigers shot 28.6 percent, the same number the Tigers shot in a loss to Illinois in the BiLo Center a year ago. The crowd of 500 or so could hear Shyatt's frustration with his team's offense, which turned the ball over 17 times, 11 in the first half.

"Right now we need to do a lot of things better," said Shyatt, who saw his team fall to 2-3.

Oregon State (3-1) took the lead, 10-9, on a hook shot by George Von Backstrom with 11:47 left in the first half and never gave it up. The Tigers trailed by four at the half and Oregon State built a 35-24 lead on a 17-footer byDeaundra Tanner with 10:50 left in the game.

The dagger in the heart came with five minutes left when The Commodore's "Brickhouse" started blaring through the BiLo Center loud speakers during a timeout.

Two of Clemson's ten worst shooting games in its history have now come at the BiLo Center.

"We did a good job of limiting Alan Allenspach's touches and we made Will Solomon work hard for his touches," said Oregon State coach Eddie Payne, who was an assistant at Clemson under Bill Foster in the late 70's.

After Oregon State built a 40-27 lead with 8:52 left on two free throws by Jason Heide, Clemson scored four straight points on a lay-up by Arturus Javtokas and a put-back by Solomon. That was the extent of Clemson's comeback, though.

Clemson finished the game with the fewest points since a 34-33 loss to South Carolina in the 1970 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

"For seven games, we've played very hard and done what's expected on the defensive end," said Shyatt. "We shot poorly and we handled the ball poorly."

Solomon, who led Clemson with ten points, was 4-15 from the field and 2-7 on 3-point shots.

"It looked like in the game when one guy had the ball other guys were just standing around," he said. "If we get movement our offense will be developed pretty good."

The Tigers were without Andruis Jurkunas, who broke his right thumb Friday night. Also, freshman guard Ed Scott was hobbled with an injured right foot. Scott, who broke his left foot in pre-season workouts, developed a blister and had an injured toe on his right foot.

"Your defense can only hold the other team so long," said Shyatt. "We have to make plays. We do have to make shots."

The Tigers travel to Penn State for a game at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.