Clemson Survives a Boston College Comeback, 74-70
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The No. 25 Clemson Tigers opened up road play in the ACC at Chestnut Hill Wednesday night against a scrappy Boston College team. The Tigers snuck out of Conte Forum with a 74-70 win.
Clemson playing in their first game as a ranked team since Jan. 23, 2010 came out of the gates hot. The Tigers moved the ball well offensively taking a 19 point lead over the Eagles 35-16 with 5:28 left in the first half.
Boston College narrowed the gap slightly before the break to 38-23.
Coming out of the half, the Eagles needed a spark to get back in the game and Jerome Robinson delivered a gem going 10-12 from the floor and 6-8 from behind the arc in the second half. The Eagle's Robinson scored 26 of his 28 points in the final twenty minutes.
Robinson's hot shooting helped Boston College trim Clemson's lead to two on multiple occasions before finally knotting things up with 1:02 left when Ky Bowman hit two free throws making it 68-68.
On Clemson's next possession, Marcquise Reed drove hard to the lane and was sent to the line where he promptly knocked down both free throws giving Clemson a two point lead.
The Eagles then put the ball in the hands of the red-hot Robinson who created space and missed a long three-pointer that would have given Boston College the lead.
Clemson snagged the rebound then on a three-on-one break, Gabe DeVoe was fouled from behind. DeVoe dropped in two free throws giving Clemson a two-possession lead with just :21 seconds to play.
The Eagles got a quick bucket but were forced to foul and Shelton Mitchell hit two more clutch free throws for the Tigers giving Clemson the final margin 74-70.
Speaking of clutch free throws, the Tigers shot 18-for-20 (.900) from the charity stripe – its second-best percentage at the line in a true road ACC game in program history.
The Tigers were led in scoring by Donte Grantham who put in career-highs with 23 points and 14 rebounds during the contest. Reed scored 17, while big man Elijah Thomas also chipped in with 16 points on the night.
With the victory, Clemson moved to 13-1 on the year and 2-0 in ACC play, dropping Boston College to 10-5, 1-2 in the conference. Clemson is now 16-7 all-time against Boston College in basketball, extending their winning streak against the Eagles to six.