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Brad Brownell
Marcquise Reed and Aamir Simms
Clemson Basketball

Clutch performance from Reed keeps Tigers' postseason hopes alive in win over BC

February 23, 2019
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CLEMSON -- Clemson needed to win today’s game if they wanted any chance of keeping their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. They did just that, breaking out of their recent slump with a hard-fought 76-66 win over Boston College.

Clemson (16-11, 6-8 ACC) battled back after allowing a 10-0 Boston College (13-13, 4-10 ACC) run to start the second half, but finished strong in front of Clemson basketball alumni on hand for Alumni Day at Littlejohn Coliseum. Marcquise Reed finished with 31 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including hitting 5-of-7 from the three-point line.

“Good win for our team today. I thought we played exceptionally well on offense, really had good efficiency, good numbers, did the things we wanted to do to be successful,” head coach Brad Brownell said.

The story of the game was Reed, as the senior had quite the day. His 31 points, set a new career high. Reed said that the Tigers’ sense of urgency started in practice over the last few days, despite the losing streak.

“You just can’t get your head down when you go on a losing streak. You can’t get your head too high when you go on a winning streak because everybody can beat you on any given night.”
- Marcquise Reed

“We took a day off after Florida State to get our mind right and I think the guys came ready to play today. It’s hard (to lose close games). It’s a competitive conference. You just can’t get your head down when you go on a losing streak. You can’t get your head too high when you go on a winning streak because everybody can beat you on any given night,” Reed said.

Clemson led by eight at one point in the first half but the Eagles wouldn’t go away as Steffon Mitchell hit a jumper at the buzzer trimming Clemson’s lead to 33-29 at the break.

Coming out of halftime, the Eagles jumped on Clemson for the quick 10-0 run setting the Tigers behind 39-33. Reed, who had 17 first-half points, went back to work, sparking the Tigers with one of five steals on the day. Those five steals tied a career high, giving Clemson opportunities in the open floor throughout the contest. During the Tigers run, they shot 6-of-7 from the field taking a 49-48 lead on an Aamir Simms layup.

Up until midway through the second half, neither team was able to create much separation, but a David Skara jumper gave Clemson their largest lead of the second half at 60-52. Boston College promptly called a timeout with 7:06 to play and tried to regroup and the Eagles wouldn’t go away quietly.

Jarius Hamilton made two free throws, during an 8-0 run tying the game at 60 with just under 4 minutes to play. After the win, Reed gave the Eagles credit for keeping it close.

“They came out there, they played hard. They were making shots and we couldn’t get any stops early on. Thank God we were scoring too and we finally knuckled down and got some stops at the end of the game,” Reed said.

Reed came through in the clutch for the Tigers with four made free throws down the stretch including a huge three-pointer with 1:57 left in the contest, securing a hard-fought win to keep the Tigers’ postseason hopes alive.

“When he’s (Reed) going good like today, he’s hard to handle. He was dynamite. The efficiency with which he scored and then to watch him on the defensive end to harass Ky Bowman as much as he tried to. He was spectacular.”

Clemson travels to Pitt on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

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Clutch performance from Reed keeps Tigers' postseason hopes alive in win over BC

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