Blossomgame leads Clemson past Pittsburgh 71-62
NATE BARNES
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jaron Blossomgame scored 18 points to lead Clemson past Pittsburgh 71-62 on Saturday.
Rod Hall added 12 for Clemson (9-6, 1-2 ACC).
The Tigers outrebounded Pitt 39-22 and held the Panthers to 39 percent shooting while converting on 47.1 percent of their field goal attempts.
Cameron Wright scored a season-high 18 points for Pitt (11-5, 1-2 ACC) and Chris Jones chipped in 11.
The teams played close in the opening minutes before Clemson changed to a zone defense which hampered Pitt’s offense. The Tigers prevented the Panthers from penetrating, reducing their offense to passes around the perimeter and contested jump shots.
Clemson’s defense kept Pitt scoreless for over four minutes and after leading 14-11, the Panthers mustered only three points in the next six minutes while Clemson built a 24-17 lead.
Pitt closed in on the Tigers before the half, cutting the lead to three points behind Wright’s eight points late in the half. But Blossomgame tipped in a miss by Hall with seconds left to give Clemson a 36-31 lead.
Pitt tied the game at 44-all by keeping the Tigers off the scoreboard for about three minutes and scoring seven unanswered points. Then Clemson prevented Pitt from scoring for over five minutes and built its lead back up to 51-44 with a 7-0 run.
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TIP-INS
Clemson: The Tigers started conference play 0-2 in five of their past 15 seasons and won its third game each time. The victory Saturday avoided the program’s first 0-3 start in conference play since 1999-2000.
Pittsburgh: Saturday’s loss to Clemson was the first in program history against the Tigers. Pitt is now 3-1 all-time against Clemson.
UP NEXT
Clemson plays at No. 3 Virginia Tuesday.
Pittsburgh hosts Florida State Wednesday.
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