Clemson Defeats California South All-Stars, 81-60

Nov. 5, 1999

CLEMSON, S.C.–Adam Allenspach, Will Solomon and Andrius Jurkunas combined for 60 points Friday night, leading Clemson to an 81-60 victory over the California South All-Stars. It was the first exhibition game for the Tigers, while California fell to 0-2. In their only previous game they were defeated by Kentucky in Lexington, 73-66 last Tuesday evening.

Clemson will play host to a team from Australia on Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM.

Allenspach led the Tigers in scoring on Friday with 22 points and he added 11 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Solomon had 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Jurkunas added 17 points and eight rebounds. He nailed 4-7 three point goals.

Freshman Tomas Nagys led the freshmen with 11 points on 5-9 shooting and he also had six rebounds, including four offensive. Chucky Gilmore added six points and five rebounds, all off the offensive board

California was led by Eddie Shannon with 15 points on 6-8 shooting, including 3-5 on three-point shots. Derrick Hiddings added 12 points, as did Mark Sanford. Clemson did a good job holding Sanford, who made just 5-20 shots from the field. He was coming off a 23-point, 14-rebound performance against Kentucky on Tuesday evening.

California jumped out to a 20-15 lead 10 minutes into the game behind balanced scoring. Clemson then went on a 19-2 run over the next eight minutes. Nagys provided a spurt off the bench for the Tigers, as he had five points, three rebounds and drew two charges during that eight-minutes. Fellow Lithuanian Jurkunas had six points in the run.

Clemson held a 38-25 lead at intermission behind 11 points by Jurkunas and 10 from Solomon. However, California nailed four three-point goals in the first six minutes of the second half and cut the advantage to 51-46 at the 14:08 mark.

But, Allenspach got untracked and scored six straight points at one point. Clemson went on a 14-4 run to take a 65-50 lead with 6:12 left. California cut the margin back to 10, with four minutes left, but never got the margin under double digits the rest of the night. Clemsons’ largest lead was the final score.

Clemson won the battle of the boards 48-37, including a 24-13 margin in the second half, and had a 19-6 advantage in terms of second-chance points. The Tigers hit 47 percent from the field overall, including 41 percent on three-point shots. California connected on just 33 percent against Clemson’s defense, including just 24 percent on three-point shots.

“After watching videotape of their game with Kentucky, we felt our defensive transition and blocking out would be important,” said Head Coach Larry Shyatt, in his second year as head coach of the Tigers. “Offensively we just wanted to get some open looks. It has been tough in practice because, with all the injuries, we have been practicing against walkons. But, overall we got good looks at the basket.

“We said in the offseason that we needed Will to control the perimeter and for Adam to control the inside, and Jurkunas to help control both. Those were keys in this game. None of them are well known ACC players, and we need balance between them, which we got tonight. We were three or four turnovers too high, we must improve in that area.”

Clemson (81) Jurkunas 6-15, 1-2, 17, Gilmore 2-3, 2-7, 6, Allenspach 9-15, 4-6, 22, Solomon 8-18, 2-3, 21, Braddick 1-4, 0-2, 2, Nagys 5-9, 1-2, 11, Javtokas 0-0, 2-2, 2, Holt 0-1, 0-0, 0, Henderson 0-1, 0-0, 0, Totals: 31-66, 12-23, 81 Three Point Shooting (7-17) : Jurkunas 4-7, Solomon 3-9, Nagys 0-1

California All-Stars (60) K. Higgins 0-5, 0-0, 2, Sanford 5-20, 0-0, 12, Holden 2-3, 1-1, 5, Shannon 6-8, 0-0, 15, D. Higgins 4-7, 2-2, 12, Jenkins 1-7, 3-3, 5, Conlisk 1-3, 3-5, 5, Mosley 1-8, 0-0, 2, Clyde 1-4, 0-0, 2, Morris 1-2, 0-0, 2, Totals 22-67, 9-11, 60 Three Point Shooting (7-29) Sanford 2-9, Shannon 3-5, D. Higgins 2-3, K. Higgins 0-2, Jenkins 0-2, Conlisk 0-2, Mosley 0-6, Clyde 0-1

Total Fouls: Clemson 15, California 22 Rebounds: Clemson 48 (Allenspach 11) California 37 (Sanford 7)