Robert Wright III's Buzzer Beater Shocks Clemson in Heartbreaking Loss to BYU

NEW YORK CITY— On a cold night at Madison Square Garden, the Clemson Tigers suffered a devastating 67-64 loss to No. 10 BYU, blowing a 22-point lead.

BYU guard Robert Wright III hit the game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds, sending the Tigers packing without a Quad 1 win.

Clemson (7-3) was basically dead after the Cougar comeback, being down as much as five, but guard Dillon Hunter saved the team with some important baskets. A three-point and a difficult layup, the Tigers tied the game at 64 with 5.5 seconds to go.

As the Tigers left the court after the first half, they didn’t allow the No. 10 team in the country to score in the final seven minutes, scoring 21 unanswered points to round out the first half.

After the final 20 minutes, shock fell on head coach Brad Brownell’s bench. Clemson was outscored by 24 points in the second half and missed out on another quality win over a ranked opponent.

An emphatic alley-oop by BYU forward Keba Keita, after a lead as large as 22, gave the Cougars their first lead of the game at the 3:17 mark in the second half.

The Tigers couldn’t take care of freshman phenom AJ Dybantsa, who dazzled in the BYU win, especially in the second half. He finished with more points than Clemson in the entire final frame, finishing his stat line with a highlight reel jam to put the Cougars up by double scores.

A tale of two halves, the Cougars (8-1) missed their last 10 shots to close out the first half, a credit to Brownell’s pesty defense. Then, in the second half, Clemson was the team that couldn’t make the shots, shooting only 25.9% from the field in the loss.

Two droughts of four minutes or more caused the comeback to become an opportunity, which Kevin Young’s team took advantage of.

Defensive efforts were enhanced when the lights were brightest. Loose balls, 50-50 rebounds and turnovers were all in Clemson’s favor in the opening frame, leading to the energy brought to the seven-minute run.

The Tigers were playing to the physicality of a top 10 team, playing their best half of basketball all season, going into the tunnel.

After the break, the Cougars flipped the favor. Clemson struggled to turn opportunities into points while BYU poured on the points, cutting the lead to under double-digits by the middle of the frame, letting the team hang around.

Guard Jestin Porter led the team in scoring, finishing with 17 points and four assists in the loss. Forward RJ Godfrey had 13 points and five rebounds, and Butta Johnson finished with 10 points of his own.

Next up, the Tigers return home on Saturday afternoon to host the Mercer Bears at Littlejohn Coliseum at 3:00 p.m.