Clemson drops first game in Cayman Islands Classic final

TigerNet Staff - Correspondent - Wednesday, November 21 2018

No. 16 Clemson’s comeback bid versus Creighton fell short Wednesday as the Tigers dropped their first game of the season in the Cayman Islands Classic final, 87-82.

After trailing by 10 at the half, the Tigers (5-1) cut the lead to three with under 30 seconds to go, but the Bluejays sealed the deal at the free throw line, where they hit 19-of-25 attempts on the night.

Creighton (5-1) shot around 60 percent for much of the first half - led by 19 points from guard Ty-Shon Alexander - to a 45-35 lead. They finished hitting 55.8 percent from the field overall.

Alexander continued to lead the Bluejays’ charge in the second half - reaching a career-high in the early minutes of the second session and finishing with 36 points.

Marcquise Reed led Clemson with 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting. He was joined in double-figures by Shelton Mitchell (13), Elijah Thomas (11) and Aamir Simms (10).

Clemson hit just 5-of-19 3-point attempts.

Creighton has made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances out of the Big East. They came in rated as the No. 25 offense in college basketball, per KenPom.

Clemson returns to action in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge at home versus Nebraska on Nov. 26 (7 p.m.).

For their play during the tournament, both Reed and Mitchell earned All-Cayman Islands Classic Tournament honors.

Notes: Marcquise Reed scored a team-high 27 points – his 28th career 20-point outing and fourth of the 2018-19 season en route to topping the 1,000-career point mark … Reed made a career-best 11 field goals … David Skara finished with a career-high 11 rebounds.

With that last layup, Marcquise Reed just went over the 1,000-point mark in his career at Clemson. 27 in the game and 1,001 as a Clemson Tiger. ??#ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/bkocJxYDRd
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) November 22, 2018