Tigers Stun No.21 Wolfpack, 59-42 |
CLEMSON, SC -- It's hard to figure exactly how Clemson put it all together and
whipped No. 21 N.C. State, 59-42, in front of 8,000 in Littlejohn Coliseum Thursday night. With 12:47 left, Clemson had gone through a nearly nine-minute scoring drought and its leading scorer Will Solomon had just three points. Still, Clemson led by 12 and went on to clear the bench in the final seconds. "Being on the other side of the stat sheet, I can sympathize with N.C. State, but I do think our guys deserved this and played an important role," said Clemson coach Larry Shyatt. Clemson (7-12 overall, 1-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) won for the first time in nearly a month and beat a conference team, something the Tigers weren't expected to do this season. N.C. State pulled within four (42-38) with 7:32 after a flurry of 3-pointers by Archie Miller. The Wolfpack, however, didn't hit score again until a mop-up basket by Anthony Grundy with just over ten seconds left in the game. The Wolfpack missed six three pointers and turned the ball over five times in the final seven minutes. "We did not execute," said N.C. State coach Herb Sendek, who saw his team fall to 13-4 and 4-3. "We did some things we ordinarily would not do." The Wolfpack shot just 30 percent from the floor and grabbed just two offensive rebounds in the first half. While Clemson went scoreless for eight and a half minutes in the first half, they managed just four points. "We did not execute in any phase of the game," said Sendek, who had to get his team to Clemson despite the 20 inches of snow in Raleigh that postponed the game a day. Sendek didn't blame the bus ride or the delay on N.C. State's slow start. "It had absolutely nothing to do with it," he said. "You have to take your hat off to Clemson for their effort." Clemson played for the first time since the beginning of the season with nearly everyone dressed out. Only Ray Henderson sat on the bench in street clothes. Point guard Ed Scott, playing for the first time in two weeks, scored ten and had five assists. Solomon ended up with 15 points to lead the team, but this time it wasn't a one-man show for the Tigers. Center Adam Allenspach added 12 and forward Adrius Jurkunas had 10. Chuck Gilmore led Clemson with ten rebounds. "Without taking any credit away from any of the other guys, we are a much better ball handling team with Ed Scott on the floor," said Shyatt. "Without any of our players tonight, we might have fallen short." Clemson travels to No. 3 Duke for a game Saturday. Scott doesn't think the Tigers have peaked. "To be honest, I think we can play better than this," he said. "Will was in foul trouble and this team is a great team. It's just a matter of getting together." Go figure. No one, except Shyatt and his team, saw this one coming. Wilkins 0-4 2-4 2, Thornton 1-2 0-0 2, Inge 1-4 0-0 2, Grundy 4-10 0-1 9, Gainey 0-4 0-0 0, Miller 5-9 0-0 15, Crawford 0-2 0-0 0, M.Williams 2-5 0-3 5, C.Williams 0-0 0-0 0, R.Kelly 2-10 3-6 7. Totals 15-50 5-14 42. Jurkunas 4-8 0-0 10, Gilmore 3-6 0-1 6, Allenspach 6-13 0-0 12, Solomon 5-12 4-9 15, Bains 0-1 2-2 2, Holt 0-0 0-0 0, Scott 3-7 3-4 10, Braddick 2-5 0-0 4, Powell 0-0 0-0 0, Nagys 0-2 0-0 0, Shyatt 0-0 0-0 0, Crocker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 9-16 59. Halftime- Clemson 23, N.C. State 17. 3-Point goals- N.C. State 7-24 (Miller 5-9, M.Williams 1-4, Grundy 1-6, Thornton 0-1, Gainey 0-1, Wilkins 0-3), Clemson 4-13 (Jurkunas 2-5, Scott 1-3, Solomon 1-4, Bains 0-1). Fouled out- Gilmore. Rebounds- N.C. State 36 (Grundy 8), Clemson 40 (Gilmore 10). Assists- N.C. State 5 (Thornton 2), Clemson 15 (Scott 5). Total fouls- N.C. State 20, Clemson 18. Technicals- Inge, Braddick. A- 8,000. N.C. STATE (13-4)
CLEMSON (7-12)
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