PJ Hall scored a game-high 25 points to lead Clemson to a 90-75 win over visiting Syracuse in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Tuesday.
Playing against his former team, Joseph Girard III added 21 points for the Tigers (21-9, 11-8 ACC), who have won four of their past five games. Chase Hunter chipped in 17 points, and Ian Schieffelin had 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Judah Mintz led Syracuse (20-11, 11-9) with 20 points, while Quadir Copeland posted 17 off the bench. Maliq Brown tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Orange, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. J.J. Starling netted 10 points for Syracuse.
After Clemson held a 12-point halftime lead, Syracuse trimmed its deficit to five on Brown’s layup that made it 56-51 at the 11:47 mark of the second half.
Clemson responded with a 12-3 run, extending its lead to 14 points on Hunter’s triple with 8:01 left.
Copeland’s trey cut the Tigers’ lead to 78-68 with 3:04 remaining, but consecutive dunks from Hall and Hunter pushed Clemson’s cushion to 14 with 2:36 to go.
Kyle Cuffe Jr. then hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Syracuse, but Girard made all six of his free-throw attempts from there to help seal the victory.
In the first half, Starling connected from deep for the game’s first bucket before Clemson’s 16-2 run, which was stamped by back-to-back threes from Hall and Girard.
Minutes later, Hall canned a mid-range jumper to put the hosts up 25-14 with 10:40 left in the opening half.
Syracuse answered with a 9-0 run, cutting its deficit to two points by the 8:07 mark of the period.
Leading 30-28 with 5:27 remaining, Clemson finished the first half on a 12-2 run, with Hunter’s dunk right before the buzzer providing the Tigers with a 42-30 edge at the break. Hall had 21 points before intermission.
Tuesday was Syracuse’s final regular-season game, while Clemson wraps up its campaign at Wake Forest on Saturday.
–Field Level Media