Clemson Beat by #10 BYU on Buzzer Beater
NEW YORK — Clemson University men’s basketball got beat by #10 BYU on a buzzer beater 67-64 as time expired on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden.
The Tigers (7-3) held a 43-22 advantage at halftime and took a game-high 22-point lead early in the second half, but the Cougars used a 36-11 run to go up 58-54 with 2:24 left in regulation.
Clemson trailed by six with 1:10 left and hit on three consecutive baskets to tie the game at 64-64. The Cougars inbounded and called timeout just across the timeline and with 1.3 seconds left BYU’s Robert Wright III hit a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.
The Tigers had built a dominant 21-point halftime lead thanks to a 21-0 run that was extended to 22-0 at the start of the second half, the largest run for a Tiger team since a 23-0 run against Alabama A&M on Nov. 21, 2019.
Clemson was led by 17 points from Jestin Porter (Houston, Texas/Cypress Ridge/Middle Tennessee State). Porter connected on five threes and grabbed four rebounds and dished four assists.
The Tigers’ other two double-digit scorers came off the bench with RJ Godfrey (Suwanee, Ga./North Gwinnett/Georgia) totaling 13 points and Butta Johnson (Huntsville, Ala./Grissom/UAB) adding 10 points.
Carter Welling (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon/Utah Valley) led the Tigers with six rebounds and totaled nine points.
BYU scored 22 second-chance points and outscored the Tigers 34-22 in points in the paint. Despite 17 offensive rebounds the Tigers could only muster 12 second-chance points on the night.
The Cougars’ AJ Dybantsa finished with a game-high 28 points.
Clemson returns to the court on Saturday, Dec. 13 when it hosts Mercer from Littlejohn Coliseum at 3 p.m. on ACCNX.
