Tigers Down Chaminade at Maui Invitational

November 24, 1998

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) – In beating unheralded Chaminade, No. 22 Clemson learned how important Terrell McIntyre is to the team.

The Tigers (4-1) defeated the host team 72-60 Tuesday in the consolation game of the Maui Invitational. Despite the double-digit victory, it wasn’t easy and coach Larry Shyatt admitted it.

“Having McIntyre get a couple of objectionable calls early and having to sit him down with those fouls for three minutes and then with four fouls for three or four minutes was difficult,” Shyatt said.

“To learn how to make decisions without him was important for our club. Right now, we’ve got to accumulate wins and get smarter and find out where our strengths and weaknesses are.”

Although he had to sit for part of the second half, McIntyre still led Clemson with 15 points, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, along with three assists.

The game had the makings of an early blowout with McIntyre and Harold Jamison, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, leading a charge that put the Tigers ahead by 18 points at halftime, 40-22.

“I didn’t think we experienced a lot of trouble on offense,” Shyatt said at that point. “I felt it came easily for us. But hitting those jump shots, the emotions started to fly around a little.”

But after Clemson increased the lead to 19, 55-36, with 12:28 left, Chaminade (0-2) got hot, while the Tigers, playing without the foul-plagued McIntyre, went into a field goal drought.

Kaweo Feeney began an 11-0 run for the Silverswords and Marcus Murphy had two 3-pointers, making it 55-47. A 7-0 spurt a short time later made it 61-56.

The Silverswords could have reduced the deficit, but they missed on a 3-on-1 breakaway and a layup on consecutive trips down the floor.

“That was obviously a very good second half for a club, regardless of whether it was Division II (Chaminade) against the ACC (Clemson),” Chaminade coach Al Walker said.

“When we finally decided to go back to man-to-man and be a little more aggressive, we played hard and knocked down some open jump shots for the first time in two days.

“We’re undersized and our best player (injured Stanley Martin) is not here. For them to play Clemson that strong in the second half showed a lot of guts.”

During the Chaminade comeback, the Tigers went 10 minutes with only one field goal – a follow-up tip by Jamison off a missed free throw.

Then the Clemson veterans took over. Tom Wideman made a field goal and McIntyre hit a 3-pointer to put the Tigers in command.

Murphy, who was saddled with four fouls for most of the second half, made his fourth 3-pointer to make it 66-60 with 1:05 remaining, but Clemson countered with six consecutive free throws, four by Will Solomon, to close out the scoring.

The Silverswords have not won a Maui Invitational game since 1992 – a stretch of 17 games.

By GORDON SAKAMOTO Associated Press Writer