Coral Gables, Fla. – Thanks to a nine-point halftime lead, Miami held on to down Clemson, 59-54, on Thursday night inside the Watsco Center on the campus of the University of Miami. The win moves the Hurricanes to 17-9 on the year (10-5 ACC), while the loss drops the Tigers to 14-14 (5-11 ACC).
Clemson was led by Daisha Bradford with 18 points, including a career-high-tying four threes, as well as four steals, while Amari Robinson finished in double-figures again with 12 points.
The teams traded points in the early going, before Clemson got a buzzer-beating layup from Robinson to take an 18-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. Miami opened the second on an 11-0 run, however, to open a 26-18 lead at the media timeout. Clemson cut the lead to four after a three pointer by Bradford, but Miami was able to stretch the lead back to nine heading to the locker room.
The Tigers opened the third quarter with back-to-back threes to cut the lead to three, but Miami used consecutive layups after Clemson turnovers to push the lead back to eight, 46-38, at the third quarter media timeout. Bradford and Whitehorn cut the Miami lead to four at 46-42, but the Hurricanes made free throws to close out the quarter and take a 51-42 lead into the fourth.
Miami pushed the lead to 14 to open the fourth quarter, before the Tigers used back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 10, forcing a Miami timeout. After stretching the lead to 12, Clemson used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to four at 58-54 with just under 1:00 to go. The Tigers could not capitalize on chances at the end of the game, falling 59-54.
The Tigers are off this weekend, before returning to Littlejohn Coliseum for the final two games of the regular season.
