| Alivin Jones takes the ball to the hoop. (AP Photo) |
CLEMSON, S.C. (Feb. 2, AP) (Feb. 2) — With leading scorer Will Solomon having an off night, and second leading scorer Adam Allenspach on the bench with a bulging disc, Clemson’s Andrius Jurkunas and Dustin Braddick stepped up with career nights.
Jurkunas scored a career high 21 points and Braddick had a career high 14 in the Tigers’ 70-58 win over Georgia Tech Wednesday night.
The Tigers (8-13, 2-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) used their league best defense to negate Tech’s height advantage and pull out the victory over the Yellow Jackets (9-11, 2-6).
The Tigers held the Yellow Jackets to 35 percent from the field. Clemson came into the game limiting opponents to an ACC-best 39 percent.
Solomon finished with 17 points, but most came in the second half with the Tigers comfortably ahead. He was held without a 3-pointer for the first time in 25 games.
Tech double-teamed Solomon, leaving Jurkunas open for 3-pointers. Solomon would drive to the basket and dish off to an open Jurkunas, who was 4 of 7 on 3-pointers.
Braddick got most of his points by driving to the basket. At one point he drove to the basket, faked a pass and went in for an uncontested layup.
The Tigers led by as many as 20 in the second half when Solomon hit a free throw with just over eight minutes to play. The Yellow Jackets never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.
With Allenspach out, Clemson did not have a player taller than 6-foot-9, but Georgia Tech’s Jason Collier at 7-0, and Alvin Jones, 6-11, could not take advantage inside. Collier, the second leading scorer in the ACC coming into the game at 17.8 per game, missed his first five shots and finished with 10. Jones had 7. Tony Akins led the Yellow Jackets with 18.
Braddick had six points in Clemson’s 13-4 first-half run that gave the Tigers a 23-18 halftime lead. Clemson shot only 38 percent in the half, but limited the Yellow Jackets to 30 percent. Georgia Tech had just two field goals in the last 12 minutes of the first half.
Solomon and Collier, the top two scorers in the league, were a combined 2 for 13 in the first half.
It was Georgia Tech’s seventh-straight loss at Littlejohn Coliseum.
