Hunter Tyson hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 12 seconds left to give No. 19 Clemson a grind-it-out 51-50 victory over visiting Virginia Tech on Saturday.
PJ Hall delivered 20 points and eight rebounds as Clemson (16-4, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) improved to 11-0 at home and kept first place in the league. Tyson finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Virginia Tech (11-8, 1-7) had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but Hunter Cattoor’s 3-point attempt was off the mark.
Grant Basile led the Hokies with 13 points and eight rebounds. Lynn Kidd came off the bench to score 10 points against his former team as Virginia Tech lost its seventh straight game, extending its longest skid since the 2014-15 season.
In an ugly game, the Hokies committed 14 turnovers and shot 34.6 percent from the floor, making just 6 of 22 shots from beyond the arc (27.3 percent).
Meanwhile, the Tigers committed 17 turnovers and shot 38.3 percent from the floor, hitting 3 of 18 shots (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc.
Clemson survived a dry spell when it made just one field goal in a 17-minute span that bridged halftime.
The Tigers emerged from that down 37-33. But they responded with an eight-point run, started and finished by fast-break layups by Dillon Hunter off turnovers.
A three-point play by Hall gave Clemson a 44-39 lead with 4:15 left. But Virginia Tech answered with an eight-point run, which included 3-pointers by MJ Collins and Cattoor, to grab a 47-44 lead.
The Hokies were still up with a minute left. But Hall powered inside for another basket with 43 seconds left to make trim the deficit to 49-48. Then after Basile made one of two free throws, Tyson delivered his dagger.
With Hall scoring 10 of his points in the first half, Clemson led most of the way but never by more than six points.
The Tigers hit a dry spell, missing all eight shots from the floor and committing five turnovers over the final 7:57 of the period. Virginia Tech took advantage, turning a six-point deficit into a five-point lead at the break, 31-26.
Virginia Tech had a dry spell as well, going 1-for-16 over 13-plus minutes in the second half.
– Field Level Media
