Tigers do not allow BC to come back this time

CLEMSON, S.C. — This time Clemson did not allow Boston College to come back after taking a big lead.

The Tigers got a career-high 23 points from Chase Hunter and a double-double from David Collins as they beat the Eagles 70-60 Saturday at the Conte Forum in Chesnutt Hill, Massachusetts. Al-Amir Dawes added 16 points and had four rebounds to help Clemson get its second straight win.

Boston College (11-17, 6-12 ACC) rallied from 23 points down at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson to stun the Tigers on Jan. 15, 70-68. But there was no such come back after Clemson went up 14 points, 51-37, with 7:32 to go on Saturday.

"Coach (Brad Brownell) mentioned that in the huddle. He just said we needed to lock in on the shooters. Just know the personnel and don't let them get any momentum," Hunter said. "They did come back a little bit, but we withstood their run. For us, we played tough. We played hard when they hit a few shots and we were kinda slow on offense.

"So, yeah, it worked out for us."

For a second straight game, the Tigers (14-15, 6-12 ACC) were without their leading scorer in forward PJ Hall, but once again they found a way to get a hard-fought road victory. They had dropped their last six road games in the ACC prior to Saturday's win at BC.

"This is just a great win," Brownell said. "I could not be more proud of this team. This has been an incredible week for our guys. A lot of hard work paid off."

After leading 28-25 at the break, Clemson’s 3-2 zone caused the Eagles a lot of issues in the second half. BC missed 12 straight shots, while going nearly nine minutes without a field goal.

BC shot just 36 percent from the floor and finished the day 6-for-29 from 3-point range (21 percent). The Eagles shot just at 50 percent from the field back in January in Clemson.

"I thought our ball screen coverage was better," Brownell said. "It is hard sometimes. In game one, we played as well as you can play for the first twelve or fourteen minutes in the game and did not finish the half well. Sometimes it is hard. Once you lose your fight a little bit and the other team punches you back, you are not always ready to go.

"We had a hard time in that game that day getting our competitive fight up to the level that we needed. Today, I thought we had incredible fight from start to finish."

Following a Makai Ashton-Langford layup with 15:54 to play, the Eagles did not make another basket until the 7:08 mark when Ashton-Langford laid up another shot to end the drought.

In the process, the Tigers outscored Boston College, 17-2, to build a 51-37 lead with 7:32 to play. During the run, Hunter scored eight straight points in allowing Clemson to take control of the game.

"Boston College is a tough and physical team. They have competitive guys, good athletes and good sizes," Brownell said. "You have to play extremely hard and physical to match them, and I thought our guys were really excited about it. We matched their physicality and cleaned up a couple of things and were able to finish a very hard fought win."

Following a Brevin Galloway three-pointer to pull BC within seven points, 54-47, with 4:48 to play, Hunter capitalized on an open three-pointer with the shot clock running down. Naz Bohannon got his own offensive rebound and found Hunter open on the left wing. The Hunter three upped the Tigers’ lead back to 10 points with 4:18 to go.

"It was a great team effort. We had a bunch of guys play well," Brownell said. "Chase, again, with some big plays. He was just fantastic. Collins played well. He is really battling and fighting. He does not really have quite the lift that he had earlier in the year, but he is hanging in there. He made some tough plays and free throws."

Down the stretch, Collins and Hunter both made free throws, along with Dawes to seal the victory. Collins finished the afternoon with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He was 8-for-10 from the foul line.

The Tigers shot 40 percent from the floor overall and were 6 of 20 from behind the arc.

Key Play: Down six points with a little more than a minute to play, Demarr Langford missed a layup that could have pulled the Eagles within four points. Instead, Chase Hunter chased down the rebound and then followed with two made free throws to extend the lead back to eight points, 61-53, with 1:03 to play.

Player of the Game: After scoring a then career-high 21 points in a win over Wake Forest on Wednesday night, Chase Hunter followed that performance with another career day against the Eagles. He finished the day with 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting. He also was 8 of 10 from the foul line and had seven rebounds. Hunter is now 17-for-21 from the floor in the last two games.

Stat of the game: Getting his second career start in the absence of PJ Hall, Ben Middlebrooks grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, including four on the offensive glass. The freshman also scored a career-best eight points for the Tigers in the paint. Clemson had 10 offensive rebounds and had 15 second-chance points.

"He is always a physical guy and he rebounds in practice. He is always rebounding and he is always going to battle," Brownell said about Middlebrooks. "He is not going to shy away from contact with PJ in practice."

Injuries: P.J. Hall (foot) and Hunter Tyson (broken clavicle) did not play. David Collins (thumb and thigh) played 28 minutes and scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds.

Brownell said after the game he is still not sure if the Tigers will have Hall and Tyson available for the final two games of the regular season.

"I think Hunter is going, for the first time next week, to start, maybe, some live practice. We will see what that in tells," Brownell said. "PJ has not done anything. He did not do anything all week. We will see if he does something next week. We are crossing our fingers and hopeful, but it is really day-to-day. How does the foot feel? Where is he at? So, we are just going to have to play it by ear."

Up Next: Clemson will host Georgia Tech on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Littlejohn Coliseum.