Tigers use hot second half to rout Pitt

Dawes scored 19 to lead the Tigers.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Jan 22 20:17:11 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – The Pitt Panthers came along at the right time for a struggling Clemson team.

Clemson outscored Pitt 37-21 in the second half and Al-Amir Dawes scored a game-high 19 points as the Tigers defeated the Panthers 75-48 in Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday night. Clemson improves to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in the ACC while Pitt falls to 7-12 overall and 2-6 in league play.

PJ Hall added 16 points while Chase Hunter added 13 for the Tigers. David Collins led the Tigers with seven rebounds. The Tigers were 12-of-25 from 3-point range and shot 47.8 percent (22-46) from the field overall. The Tigers were also 19-of-26 from the free throw line.

Clemson has won nine in a row in the series, dating back to the 2014-15 season. Tigers head coach Brad Brownell is now 9-2 against Pitt in his career, which began with Pitt joining the ACC in prior to the 2013-14 season. Pitt head coach Jeff Capel is now 17-46 in ACC play over his four seasons.

Hall scored the first seven points of the game for the Tigers, and Clemson held an early 12-5 lead after a 3-pointer by Al-Amir Dawes. Pittsburgh continued to hang around, however, and twice trimmed the Tigers’ advantage to just one as the teams continued to feel each other out.

At the 7:44 mark of the first half, Pitt’s John Hugley hit a 3-pointer that made it 22-19 Clemson, but the Tigers reeled off seven consecutive points, the last two on a layup by Naz Bohannon, for a 29-19 lead with 5:21 remaining in the half.

Clemson eventually pushed the lead to 12, and the lead was 11 when Bohannon hit another layup at the 2:05 mark that made it 38-27. Neither team was able to score in the final two minutes and the Tigers took the 38-27 lead into intermission.

The Tigers kept that type of working margin for much of the second half, and Clemson led 53-38 with 10:35 to play when things got a little testy. Hunter drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to give Clemson a 56-38 lead, and Pitt answered with a trey of its own that made it 56-41 with 7:46 to play. The Panthers’ Jamarious Burton then picked up two quick fouls and fouled out, and Hunter hit both free throws to make it 58-41.

Another Pitt foul led to a technical call against the Panthers, and the Tigers responded with four free throws to push the Tiger lead to 62-41 with 7:06 remaining. Dawes hit another 3-pointer, a short jumper and then Ben Middlebrooks hit a layup that gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the night at 69-43. Thirty seconds later, Dawes hit another 3-pointer and the lead was 72-43 with just under three minutes to play.

The Tigers return to action Tuesday, traveling to Durham to take on Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.