Tigers pull away late for win over scrappy Knights

Hunter Tyson posted a double-double in the win.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Nov 18 21:17:43 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – There was no second upset of an ACC school for Bellarmine.

Bellarmine, which has already defeated Louisville this season, played a physical and tight game against Clemson Friday night, but the Tigers were able to pull away late for a 76-66 victory in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Clemson improves to 3-1 while Bellarmine falls to 2-2.

Chase Hunter scored 15, Brevin Galloway added 14, Ian Schieffelin 13 in a strong second half and Hunter Tyson added 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double to lead the Tigers. Bash Wieland scored 16 to lead the Knights.

Clemson shot 13-28 (46.4 percent) from 3-point range and was 19-22 from the free throw line. The Tigers out-rebounded the Knights 27-24.

Baskets by Hunter and Galloway allowed the Tigers to take an early 8-2 lead, but Bellarmine kept chipping away and hitting 3-pointers to eventually tie the score at 16-16 and 19-19.

Clemson eventually took a 32-26 lead with 1:34 to play in the first half, but only scored one point the rest of the way (on a free throw by PJ Hall) to lead 33-28 at the intermission.

Bellarmine came out firing to start the second half, with Wieland scoring the first five points to tie the game at 33-33. The teams then traded baskets and the lead for much of the next 11 minutes. Hunter hit a 3-pointer at the 9:06 mark of the second half to give Clemson a 52-48 lead. The Littlejohn crowd started to buzz for one of the first times on the night, but the Knights’ Curt Hopf buried a 3-pointer of his own a minute later, and it was 52-51 heading into the under-8 media timeout.

Out of the timeout, Schieffelin hit two free throws to make it 54-51, and then Bellarmine’s Peter Suder missed a 3-pointer on the other end. Schieffelin ran down the court and took a feed from Hunter, then broke to the basket for a layup and a 56-51 lead.

Schieffelin and Hunter combined again 20 seconds later, with Schieffelin grabbing a rebound and feeding Hunter, who hit a shot at the top of the key to give the Tigers a 58-51 lead with just under seven minutes to play. Wieland hit two free throws to make it 58-53, but Schieffelin finished powerfully on the offensive end with a layup, was fouled, and hit the foul shot to put the Tigers ahead 61-53 with just under six minutes to play.

The Knights hit four straight free throws to make it 61-57, but Alex Hemenway shook loose on the left wing off a screen and roll and hit a 3-pointer to make it 65-57 with a little over four minutes to play (the extra point came after a review of Hunter’s earlier shot at the top of the key, which was ruled a 3-pointer).

Bellarmine was cold from the floor, hit one free throw, but Schieffelin scored four more points and Galloway and Hunter each hit big baskets in transition. Hunter’s 3-pointer at the 1:51 mark put the Tigers ahead 74-59. However, Galloway was called for an intentional foul and Bellarmine hit both free throws and then a 3-pointer that made it 74-64 with 98 seconds remaining.

Hunter threw it away after the ball was thrown inbounds, but Bellarmine missed the shot in the lane and Hunter grabbed the rebound and tossed the ball to Galloway in transition. Galloway was fouled, hit both free throws, and then the Tigers ran out the clock on the win.

Clemson returns to the court Monday, hosting Loyola-Maryland at 7 p.m. (ACCNX). The Tigers then take on Iowa in next Friday's Emerald Coast Classic in Florida.

.@ian_schieffelin secures the basketball and @chunt3r2 takes it home for pic.twitter.com/3x0H2V73A5
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) November 19, 2022

BANG! @BrevinGalloway hits from beyond the arc to make it a season-high 9 threes for the Tigers! #ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/gr1Ps7pC25
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) November 19, 2022