How a second-half duel stole the show in South Carolina-Clemson basketball showdown
Showdowns like this are rarer than snow in the Palmetto State’s Lowcountry.
In South Carolina’s electrifying 91-88 overtime upset of No. 25 Clemson, the Tigers’ Chase Hunter and the Gamecocks’ Collin Murray-Boyles put on a second-half duel that felt straight out of a basketball fever dream.
Was it the crackling energy of the Colonial Life Arena crowd? The watchful eyes of 14 NBA scouts from 11 teams? Or just the unbridled chaos of a rivalry showdown?
Who cares? It was basketball poetry in motion.
“You have to acknowledge how entertaining that basketball game was,” USC head coach Lamont Paris said. “This was fun. This is what college basketball is about.”
Chase Hunter makes magic
The first half was more grind than glamour. A defensive slugfest left South Carolina with a 34-26 lead at the break.
Then Hunter decided it was time to wake up and choose buckets.
After starting the game 0-for-5 and staying scoreless through the first half, Hunter finally cracked the seal with his first points at the 16:58 mark of the second half.
But it wasn’t until crunch time that he morphed into the basketball equivalent of a Netflix hit — slow to catch on, but once he did, everyone was hooked.
When the game clock hit 2:00, Hunter flipped a switch. Clemson trailed by seven, and the Tigers needed a spark. Hunter delivered with a 3-pointer. Good.
Clemson got a stop. Hunter launched another deep shot from downtown. Good.
In about the same amount of time it takes to microwave popcorn, the entire game flipped on its head.
“He was cooking,” Paris said.
Even when USC’s Myles Stute momentarily quieted the rally with a clutch 3-pointer to make it 79-75 with 23 seconds left, Hunter wasn’t finished.
Hunter then hit a layup to cut the lead to two. USC left the door open with a split at the free-throw line. Hunter stepped up again.
It was like he’d found a cheat code in a video game. His off-the-glass, game-tying 3-pointer with no time to spare sent the crowd into orbit. Eleven points in 90 seconds.
“He’s a terrific player,” Clemson head coach Brad Bronwell said. “I’m super proud of him, because he’s grown as a young man and player ... and certainly he’s showing his talent. And those are big-time plays.
“He’s probably the only guy on our team that can do all that. To do it when you need it is not easy ... it shows great resiliency.”
Hunter kept Clemson in it during overtime, scoring five more points. But with the Tigers down three and one last chance for a miracle, his final 3-pointer missed the mark. The magic ran out, though he still left the Colonial Life Arena crowd in a daze.
Enter Murray-Boyles
While Hunter was catching fire, Collin Murray-Boyles was grinding out his own epic second half.
Murray-Boyles (three fouls in the first half) saw just 10 minutes of action before halftime. Then, just a few minutes into the second half, he picked up a fourth and had to ride the pine for another stretch.
But when he returned with 10 minutes left in the game, the sophomore South Carolina forward put the team on his back like a star player in a sports movie. He dropped 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, giving USC the jolt it needed to try and fend off Clemson’s second-half surge.
“The energy I felt from everybody in the crowd,” Murray-Boyles said when asked about his late scoring burst. “Shout out to all the fans that were here supporting us. They really kept my energy high, and I feel like they kept the team’s energy high.”
What made Murray-Boyles’ effort even more impressive was that he played through it with four fouls. One slip-up, and he’d be done. But he stayed composed, walking the razor’s edge between aggression and caution.
For all the gritty defense, flashy 3s and late-game dramatics, this was a game that embodied the soul of the Palmetto Series. Two stars, two rivals and one unforgettable night.
