CLEMSON BASKETBALL

Tigers get Stitt back, knock off Cougars 66-59

Tigers get Stitt back, knock off Cougars 66-59


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The Clemson Tigers got their point guard back and a road win, both of them early Christmas presents for Clemson head coach Brad Brownell.

Jerai Grant came off the bench and hit another double-double, with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and the Clemson Tigers overcame an early 11-point deficit to defeat the College of Charleston 66-59 in front of 5,048 fans at Carolina First Arena Wednesday night, the third win in a row for the Tigers.

The attendance was the sixth-largest crowd in the history of the arena, but the crowd couldn’t help the host Cougars knock of their third major opponent in three seasons. They beat South Carolina in 2008 and the University of North Carolina in 2009.

Point guard Demontez Stitt returned for the Tigers (8-4), after missing two games with knee surgery, and he scored eight points. Included in that point total was a baseline floater that that put Clemson ahead 62-57 with 42 seconds to go. He played 29 minutes and dished out six assists.

“I’m really proud of my team. It was a great environment, a really neat home court and a tremendous crowd tonight,” Brownell said. “I knew it was going to be a very competitive game and I thought we defended them about as well as we could. Goudelock is tremendous and still got his points. Our guys found a way to tough this one out and grind out a really tough win.”

Charleston opened the game with an 11-0 run, and the Tigers didn’t score until Andre Young hit a jumper with just over 15 minutes remaining in the half. The Tigers began to hack away at the Cougar lead, and went on top for the first time on a Tanner Smith layup at the 5:25 mark, putting Clemson up 19-18.

However, the Courgars led 29-26 at halftime and scored the first two buckets of the second half to expand the margin to seven at 33-26. At that point, Brownell called a timeout and the Tigers responded in a big way.

The Tigers came out of the timeout and got a 3-pointer from Smith, and that turned out to the beginning of a 10-0 Tiger run.

The Cougars fought back to tie the score at 46, but a Young 3-pointer, a Stitt steal and Devin Booker jumper put Clemson back up by six. The Tigers then hit enough free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

College of Charleston's Andrew Goudelock led all scorers with 21 points, fighting through double-teams much of the game. But he missed a 3-pointer that could have tied the game with 16 seconds to go.

Clemson sophomore Milton Jennings was playing in his hometown, and he finished with eight points and six rebounds.

“My emotions are high right now,” Jennings said. “It’s our first road win and its even better being at home and I get to go celebrate it with my family. Even people I played against in high school were out there watching me. We went in the locker room and started celebrating like this was a national championship. It was just a big win and I was happy for my teammates.”

Charleston head coach Bobby Cremins credited the Clemson defense with shutting down his offense.

“I really appreciate Clemson coming here to play us,” Cremins said. “Brad Brownell is a class act. The atmosphere was second to none. We got off to a great start in both halves. Defensively, they were tough. We really had trouble running our stuff against them. I know Brad (Brownell) is a great defensive coach. They executed better than we did, but we hung in there.

“We kept on hanging around and then all of a sudden, we had a shot. We had it down by three with possession of the ball. Andrew (Goudelock) had the green light. I wish he would have used a little more time, but it was a great atmosphere. Clemson is going to be a factor in the ACC.”

Brownell said his team needed a road win.

“We needed this after close losses on the road at South Carolina and Florida State,” Brownell said. “We needed to find ways to win a close, competitive game. The guys needed to find success this way. It was a great environment. There was a great contingent of Clemson people. They certainly could be heard, which helped us. We need to feel good about ourselves by winning close games on the road. We’ll be in difficult environments the rest of the season.”

He also said getting Stitt back from his knee injury provided a boost.

“He was tremendous tonight. He’s an unbelievably tough kid,” Brownell said. “When he was having the surgery, I was a little distraught because our team needed to put some practice time together to win some games. Our trainer told me that he heals quickly.

“He said he didn’t want to tell me he would be ready for Charleston, but he did say there was a chance it could happen. He progressed nicely throughout the week. He was hungry after having to sit out a couple of games. He made some big plays for us. The shot at the end was huge.”


VISITORS: Clemson 8-4, 0-1

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 4-8 0-2 0-0 2 4 6 5 8 1 1 1 0 20

31 Booker, Devin....... f 4-8 0-1 2-2 2 3 5 3 10 0 1 0 0 24

03 Anderson, Zavier.... g 1-2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 1 1 0 1 7

05 Smith, Tanner....... g 4-9 3-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 11 3 2 0 0 33

11 Young, Andre........ g 3-7 1-4 1-3 0 2 2 1 8 4 0 0 2 31

02 Stitt, Demontez..... 4-11 0-2 0-0 3 3 6 3 8 4 1 0 2 29

12 Stanton, Cory....... 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 16

21 Narcisse, Bryan..... 1-3 1-2 0-0 1 0 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 9

45 Grant, Jerai........ 3-6 0-0 9-9 2 8 10 1 15 0 0 1 4 31

TEAM................ 2 1 3 2

Totals.............. 24-57 6-19 12-14 12 22 34 19 66 13 9 2 9 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-33 30.3% 2nd Half: 14-24 58.3% Game: 42.1% DEADB

3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 27.3% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 31.6% REBS

F Throw % 1st Half: 3-3 100 % 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 85.7% 0

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HOME TEAM: College of Charleston 8-4, 2-0

TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS

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

21 SIMMONS, Jeremy..... f 4-7 0-0 5-6 3 2 5 4 13 0 6 0 1 31

30 WIGGINS, Antwaine... f 3-5 2-2 0-0 4 7 11 2 8 2 0 2 0 32

53 HALL, Willis........ f 1-7 0-4 2-5 1 1 2 0 4 1 1 0 2 23

01 MONROE, Donavan..... g 1-10 0-2 0-0 3 3 6 0 2 1 3 0 0 26

03 GOUDELOCK, Andrew... g 8-15 1-4 4-4 1 5 6 2 21 6 3 1 0 36

04 LAWRENCE, Andrew.... 3-6 3-6 0-0 0 1 1 3 9 0 0 0 0 26

44 WIEDEMAN, Trent..... 1-2 0-0 0-3 1 3 4 2 2 1 1 1 0 26

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

Totals.............. 21-52 6-18 11-18 14 23 37 13 59 11 14 4 3 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-24 45.8% 2nd Half: 10-28 35.7% Game: 40.4% DEADB

3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-9 33.3% Game: 33.3% REBS

F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 61.1% 2

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Officials: John Corio, Steve Coleman and Jeb Hartness

Technical fouls: Clemson-None. College of Charleston-None.

Attendance: 5048

Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total

Clemson....................... 26 40 - 66

College of Charleston......... 29 30 - 59

Points in the paint-CU 24,COFC 20. Points off turnovers-CU 16,COFC 10.

2nd chance points-CU 6,COFC 11. Fast break points-CU 4,COFC 0.

Bench points-CU 26,COFC 11. Score tied-5 times. Lead changed-3 times.

Last FG-CU 2nd-00:45, COFC 2nd-02:01.

Largest lead-CU by 7 2nd-00:03, COFC by 11 1st-15:35.

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