Tigers Fall To Hurricanes, 69-65

Jan. 26, 2005

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) – Robert Hite scored 21 points and Gary Hamilton hit two free throws with five seconds left to lead Miami to a 69-65 win over Clemson on Wednesday night.

In a back-and-forth game, Clemson had a shot to tie or take the lead with less than 30 seconds left after two missed free throws by Miami’s Eric Wilkins left the score at 67-65.

But Olu Babalola and Shawan Robinson misfired on a pair of wild shot attempts on the ensuing possession and Robinson landed out of bounds after grabbing his own miss with 5 seconds, giving the ball back to Miami (13-5, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference).

Hamilton, a 40 percent free throw shooter coming in, was fouled on the inbounds and hit both shots to ice the game, the fourth straight loss for the Tigers (10-9, 1-6) and their sixth loss in seven games.

Hite, who had scored 12 points in Miami’s previous two games, scored 12 points in the second half, including six over the final 7:45.

Sharrod Ford scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Clemson, who also got 11 points from Cliff Hammonds and 10 from Akin Akingbala.

Anthony Harris had 15 points for the Hurricanes, while Guillermo Diaz finished with 12 points and Will Frisby added 11.

The Hurricanes led for most of the first half, but Clemson closed the final five minutes on a 12-5 run to take a 31-27 halftime lead.

Hite and Harris helped Miami get back on track in the second half, combining to score 18 of the Hurricanes’ first 20 points after the break. Harris scored 12 of his 15 points on over the first 8:21 of the second half.

Miami took a 55-50 lead on a Harris 3-pointer and Frisby’s dunk with 8:38 left as the Hurricanes tried to pull away, but Clemson answered with five quick points of its own to tie the game again.