By Ron Pitts for Urban Media Today
Coach Brad Brownell and the #5 seeded Clemson Tigers take on Coach Hubert Davis and the #4 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. The Tigers look to redeem themselves after falling short to the Heels on March 3rd 67-63.
Both teams entered the quarterfinals matchup without key pieces to their teams. UNC without Caleb Wilson(thumb)and Clemson without Carter Welling(knee).
Clemson got off to a slow offensive start, but at 11:50 tv time out the score 17-15 UNC. Coach Brownell held the Tigers accountable to step up and lock in. After that the Tigers took the lead 22-21. Led by #21 Ace Buckner with (7 points). Clemson started waking up on offense and pushed the lead to 31-22. UNC battled back on the backs of #15 Jarin Stevenson(10 points) and #7 Seth Trimble(4 assist) to put a dent into the deficit trailing 31-29 (Tigers), but it wasn’t enough to close out the first half.
Clemson flexed their defensive muscles and increased their lead to go into the locker room with a 39-31 halftime lead. Led by #1 Jestin Porter with 9 first half points. The Tigers shot 45% from three point line, forced 6 turnovers and 5 points off of the turnovers.
Clemson first half leaders:
Points: #1 Jestin Porter(9)
Rebounds: #11 Nick Davidson(7)
Assist: #2 Dillon Hunter(2)
The Tar Heels fans started getting back into the game in the second half after a big dunk by Stevenson causing Tar Heel nation to get on their feet, but the UNC faithful were immediately silenced after a big step back three from Tigers #4 Butta Johnson.
The momentum of B. Johnson’s three gave the Tigers even more energy to push the lead up by 15. That’s when Coach Brownell’s defensive calling card kicked in and the Tigers became stingy towards UNC on the outside perimeter and defended the three with excellence.
Coach Davis and the Tar Heels made a comeback to make the game interesting decreasing the Tigers lead to 5 with 2 big three pointer from #3 Derrick Dixon and anther from #13 Henri Veesaar with 1:05 left in the game.
Dillon Hunter hit 2 big free throws to push the game to 5. However, Veesaar hit another big 3 closing the gap to 2 with 12.7 left in the game. Hunter hit 2 more free throws increasing the lead to 4, and then Dixon brought the game closer with another three pointer for UNC with 2.7 left in the game. However, North Carolina didn’t have enough to overcome an 18 point deficit to win.
The Clemson Tigers survived the ACC Quarterfinals with an 80-79 victory over UNC. The Tigers had a balanced team effort led by Davidson(17), Hunter(14), and Godfrey(13).
Clemson will face #1 in the nation Duke Blue Devils in the Semifinals of the ACC Tournament Friday night.
Clemson Game Leaders
Points: Nick Davidson(17)
Rebounds: Nick Davidson(11)
Assist: Dillon Hunter(3)