West Virginia can't hold on falling 70-67 to Clemson
West Virginia couldn’t hold on late falling to Clemson 70-67 Friday night inside TD Arena in the Charleston Classic.
The Mountaineers led by double figures in the second half but the Tigers rallied to give West Virginia their first loss of the season and drop them to 5-1.
The Mountaineers used the same starting lineup as the first five games with point guard Jasper Floyd, guard Honor Huff, guard Treysen Eaglestaff, forward Brenen Lorient and center Harlan Obioha.
Huff led the Mountaineers with 17 points while forward Chance Moore made his first appearance of the season and made an immediate impact on both ends with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Floyd scored 14 and freshman Amir Jenkins had 8 points.
Floyd would pick the ball off and finish on the other end to put the Mountaineers on the board first and a Huff three would give the Big 12 Conference program an early 5-2 edge. But the Tigers would score seven straight to take a 9-5 lead with 14:21 left in the first half.
The Tigers would continue to hold the lead at 12-7 after a three-point play as the Mountaineers shot just 29-percent from the field. Clemson’s early hot shooting continued to span over the first half of the opening period as the Tigers would hit a three that pushed them ahead 15-9 with 11:35 remaining.
The Mountaineers would use their own 6-0 run on a pair or threes to tie things and a Huff steal and finish gave them a 17-15 edge with eight minutes left to play before halftime.
Moore made his presence felt with a dunk to put West Virginia ahead 23-19 as the clock ticked toward just four minutes remaining in the first half. The two teams would continue to exchange blows over the final couples minutes and Moore would steal the ball and hit a three from near half court on the final possession of the first half to take a 32-25 edge into the break.
The Tigers would open the scoring in the second half with four straight to cut the lead to just 32-29 at the 18:49 mark. Huff would hit the first basket for the Mountaineers in the second half on a triple and West Virginia led 37-31 after three minutes were gone in the second half.
A quick 4-0 run cut the lead to 37-35 but again a Huff three would provide some distance after the first media timeout before Clemson would answer with a three of their own on the other end.
The Mountaineers would then reel off seven straight of their own to go back ahead 47-38 with just over 12 left to play forcing the Tigers to use their second timeout of the half.
West Virginia took a 52-41 lead with 10:58 remaining but it would be short-lived as the Tigers would quickly reel off five straight to cut it to just 52-46 a little over a minute later. The Mountaineers would again create some distance to move ahead 55-46 as they took advantage of Clemson putting them in the bonus.
Clemson would again battle back to cut the deficit to just 56-50 and then two teams would then exchange three-points on each end to put the score at 59-53 with 6:28 left. But that’s when things would shift.
The Tigers would trim it to 61-57 with 5:17 left after a turnover to force a timeout from the Mountaineers. The two teams would continue to battle but Clemson would surge ahead on two consecutive threes to take a 64-63 lead. And would build on it with another basket to go ahead 66-63 and complete a 9-0 run.
Moore would score on a layup to cut it to 66-65 with under a minute remaining in the game. The Tigers would make one of two from the line and led 67-65 with 31.6 to play in the game. On the next possession, Floyd would miss a three and Clemson would corral the rebound.
Lorient would collect the ball after a miss trailing 68-65 and Lorient would dunk the ball leaving the score at 68-67 with 1.2 left and after two free throws that would end the scoring.
The Mountaineers will next take on the loser of the Georgia and Xavier game at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
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