Game Notes On Clemson’s Win Over South Carolina In Men’s Basketball

Dec. 16, 1999

Game Fact Clemson’s 61-58 win was its sixth straight win over the in-state rival Gamecocks…it marked the third straight time the Tigers have won by five points or less.

Player of the Game Will Solomon finished the game with 26 points and 11 rebounds…17 of his points came in the second half…at intermission Clemson had missed all eight of its three-point attempts, but the Tigers made five in the second half with Solomon making four of them on six attempts…his 11 rebounds were the most by a Clemson guard since Greg Buckner grabbed 12 rebounds against Maryland on January 24, 1998.

Stat of the Game Clemson won the battle of the boards 45-32…20 of those rebounds came off the offensive glass…the Tigers out rebounded the Gamecocks 17-5 during the final 10 minutes of the game.

Turning Point In The Game After South Carolina raced to a 12-4 lead, Clemson clawed its way back and took the lead for the first time in the game at the 8:14 mark in the first half on a turn around jumper by Arturas Javtokas…the jumper gave Clemson a 17-15 lead and at that point the crowd of over 8,000 became a factor in the game.

Ray Henderson Makes His Presence Known Freshman post player Ray Henderson had four blocks in the game for Clemson including one that looked to be an easy lay-up by the Gamecocks before Henderson came out of now where to pin it against the backboard.

Andrius Jurkunas Has Key Series Of Plays Senior Andrius Jurkunas started the South Carolina game, but he is still recovering from a broken thumb suffered during the Central Florida game…beginning at the 5:32 mark in the second half, Jurkunas made a series of key plays for the Tigers…the first came when he took a rebound out of the hands of USC’s Tony Kitchings on the Gamecocks’ end of the floor…Clemson came down the floor and missed, but Jurkunas came up with the offensive rebound which was followed by a Javtokas basket to give Clemson a 48-43 advantage…on Carolina’s next possession Jurkunas defended on Chuck Edison’s miss and again came up with a key rebound…down on Clemson’s end Jurkunas delivered a pass to Solomon on the wing, who hit a three to give Clemson its biggest lead of the game at 51-43.

Adam Allenspach has 31 Points In The Last Two Games Junior Adam Allenspach struggled during a recent three-game stretch only scoring a combined 18 points…in his last two games, Allenspach has 31 points including 13 against South Carolina…he was 5-7 from the field and pulled down 11 boards in the win over the Gamecocks.

Freshman Pasha Bains Makes Debut Freshman transfer Pasha Bains made his Clemson debut against South Carolina…the game did not go as he had hoped as he was 1-5 from the field, however his only basket came at a crucial stage in the game…Bains drained a three from the left wing to push Clemson’s lead back to eight with 2:33 left in the game…Bains finished the game with four points.