CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson rolled past Pitt Saturday by 15 points in a regular season finale for both teams. Al-Amir Dawes tickled the twine with five-three pointers on the way to a season high 21 points giving the Tigers their 16th win in 22 games. The Panthers Justin Champagnie lead the Blue and Gold with 13 points and for the first time this season finished without an offensive rebound or a trip to the charity stripe.
The 77-62 set-back for the Pitt brings their record to 10 wins against 11 losses in a pandemic affected season where simply playing games was a challenge. Coach Jeff Capel’s Panthers got an early indication that they were in for a challenge when the Tigers made five of their first seven shots, including 3-pointers from Amir Simms, Clyde Trapp and Nick Honor building a 13-7 lead that they never relinquished. Before the close of the first half the Panthers did overcome a Tiger double-digit lead to only trail by two (38-36) before heading into the locker-room.
Clemson pulled away in the second half with a nine point run ignited by Honor who struck again from beyond the Arc helping the Tigers go up 11points (52-41) in less than two minutes. As for the Panthers Champagnie (who scored 10 of the panthers final 14 points ) knocked down back to back shots bringing the Blue as close as they would get for the rest of the game 60-54.
The dagger in the loss for Pitt was Clemsons knocking down 12 of their 25 shots from beyond the 3-point line in addition to shooting 56% from the floor (29-52). The Panthers on the other hand knocked down nine of their 18 three-point shots (50%) and shot 44% from the floor (20-45).
Dawes, Hunter Tyson and Simms lead the way for Clemson with 21,16 and 12 points respectively. Champagnie and Ithiel Horton were the only Panthers to score in double figures with 13 and 11 points.
Up next for Pitt is the 12-seed in the ACC Tournament and a match up against Miami (8-16) at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Trevin A. Jones -Urban Media Today Sports
(Information and Video courtesy of Pitt Athletics)