Furious Comeback Falls Short as Tigers Drop NCAA Tournament Contest
Clemson Outscored McNeese 38-18 in the game’s final 8:00
PROVIDENCE – The 2024-25 Clemson University Men’s Basketball team cut a 22-point second-half deficit with eight minutes to play down to just two points, but 12th-seeded McNeese (28-6) held on for a 69-67 win on Thursday afternoon in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Fifth-seeded Clemson’s season came to an end with a 27-7 overall record, a school record for wins.
Jaeden Zackery (Salem, Wis./Westosha Central/Boston College) led the fifth-seeded Tigers with 24 points, while Chase Hunter (Atlanta, Ga./Westlake) added 21, all of which came in the second half, in his 167th and final game in a Clemson uniform.
The game was the final in storied Clemson careers for Hunter and Ian Schieffelin (Atlanta, Ga./Grayson), who led the Tigers to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since a four-year streak from 2008-11.
The teams traded buckets early on, with Zackery giving the Tigers a 6-4 edge four minutes into the contest before McNeese held the Tigers to just one basket over the next ten minutes of gameplay as part of a 19-2 run. When Chauncey Wiggins knocked in the Tigers’ first three-pointer in ten attempts to stem the run, McNeese led 23-11.
The Cowboys took a 31-13 lead into halftime, holding Clemson to a 1-for-15 (.067) mark from behind the three-point line and scored 15 points off ten Tiger turnovers.
McNeese took its largest lead of the game, 51-29, with 8:07 left before the Tigers mounted a 23-9 run over the next six minutes to pull within eight (60-52) with 2:41 to play. Hunter scored 16 points during the stretch. After trading points on several possessions, Clemson cut the lead to three, 68-65, with 11.3 seconds to play. A McNeese free throw pushed the lead back to four and Hunter’s putback as time expired ended the game at 69-67.
