Clemson stuns Syracuse late for fourth straight home win
Clemson’s Clyde Trapp committed a flagrant foul with 14:19 left in Tuesday night’s game against Syracuse, and it appeared as if the game was slipping away from the Tigers.
After a pair of free throws by Marek Dolezaj, the Orange took a 50-41 lead and appeared in control.
But just as Clemson has done throughout this up-and-down season when faced with adversity, the Tigers battled back.
Trapp scored a career-high 17 points, including the game-winning layup with 2.3 seconds remaining, as Clemson stunned Syracuse 71-70 at Littlejohn Coliseum. The win is Clemson’s fourth consecutive home victory, while the loss snaps Syracuse’s five-game winning streak.
“Just a great basketball game. A game of runs,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “Second half was just a back and forth street fight. Just give our kids a lot of credit. Our guys have been resilient all season. We just kinda battled and played better.”
Clemson still trailed 70-69 with 11 seconds left, and Syracuse had the ball out of bounds underneath its own basket with one second on the shot clock. Orange leading scorer Elijah Hughes caught the inbounds pass and forced up a shot as the shot clock expired that was off the mark. Clemson’s Khavon Moore grabbed the rebound, pushed the ball up the court and found Trapp as he was cutting to the basket.
Trapp scored at the rim over Syracuse center Jesse Edwards for what would end up being the game-winning bucket.
On the ensuing possession, Clemson forward Tevin Mack got a hand on Syracuse’s lengthy inbounds pass, knocking it out of bounds with 1.4 seconds remaining. Syracuse leading scorer Elijah Hughes’ heave at the buzzer from near midcourt was off the mark.
“I knew coach didn’t really want to call a timeout right there because we were in transition and you don’t want to give them time to set up their zone,” Trapp said. “Saw Khavon with the ball and figured I could get to the rim and make a play.”
Trapp’s bucket came after Tevin Mack kept Clemosn in the game with a career night. The Columbia native scored a career-high 32 points in the victory, including 23 in the second half.
Mack scored 16 of Clemson’s 18 points during one stretch in the second half, getting the ball in the center of Syracuse’s zone defense and scoring at will.
“We didn’t do a good job,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said of his team’s defense on Mack. “He made a couple of tough ones, but we didn’t do a good job there... We couldn’t contain Mack in the middle and that was the game.”
Clemson improves to 11-9 (5-5) with the win, while Syracuse is now 13-8 (6-4). Hughes and Buddy Boeheim each scored 22 points to lead Syracuse.
Trapp and Mack were the only two Clemson players to score in double figures, as leading scorer Aamir Simms managed only two points.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 9:04 PM.
