Clemson takes over down stretch to slip past Pitt

Jestin Porter scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and Clemson held on for a 73-68 win over host Pitt in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup Saturday afternoon.

RJ Godfrey and Nick Davidson added 14 points apiece for Clemson (12-3, 2-0), which has won both of its conference games on the road. Efrem Johnson scored 10 points and Carter Welling finished with eight points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds.

Damarco Minor scored 17 points to lead Pitt (7-8, 0-2). Omari Witherspoon finished with 14 points off the bench, and Roman Siulepa had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Clemson shot 53.3% (24 of 45) overall and 33.3% (7 of 21) from 3-point range. Pitt shot 44.2% (23 of 52) from the field and 35.3% (6 of 17) from long distance.

Pitt led 56-53 with 9:10 remaining. Barry Dunning Jr. made a dunk off a pass from Nojus Indrusaitis to give the Panthers the three-point lead.

Johnson drained a 3-pointer moments later for Clemson to even the score at 56-all. The hot shooting continued as Porter nailed a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 59-56 lead with 7:11 to go.

Clemson held on to a single-digit lead the rest of the way. Porter pushed the lead to seven points when he made a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left.

Brandin Cummings made two free throws for Pitt to finish the scoring.

Pitt held on to a 35-34 lead at halftime.

Cummings made a driving layup to even the score at 32-all with 55 seconds left in the first half. Clemson responded the next time down the court as Davidson drew a foul and made both free throws to put the Tigers on top 34-32 with 37 seconds to go.

Pitt reclaimed a one-point lead when Minor drained a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. The basket gave Minor 12 points in the first half, which led all scorers.

-Field Level Media