GREENVILLE – Clemson lost a heart-breaker to Alabama on Sunday night at The Well, 51-50.

The Tide were in the midst of a 1 for 13 shooting slump when Donte Grantham’s inbound pass in front of the Tigers’ bench was stolen by Shannon Hale, who finished with an easy dunk on the other end.

“I’ve got to take some responsibility on that sideline play,” Brad Brownell said. “There are two options there. I’ve got to make sure that Donte understands that. If he doesn’t feel comfortable with the first one, (which) he threw, he needs to throw the ball inside.”

Clemson had possession of the ball on the offensive end when Brownell called timeout with 29.1 seconds left in the game.

“I don’t have any second thoughts. Obviously, I wish I hadn’t called it, because it led to that. That’s easier,” he said. “But, in the same scenario, we should have been able to execute.

“We were trying to get the ball Jaron (Blossomgame) at the top. We just got the ball to him in another situation and got fouled, so we were trying to the ball to our best player with a free-throw line or top of the key catch, with a chance to make a play at the rim and get fouled again, or with a shooter in the corner on a pass.

“If that’s covered, then Donte throws the ball to the 5-man, five-feet from the basket. I’m pretty sure, when I look at the film, that will be open. He just panicked a little bit, made a wrong read.”

Almost two minutes earlier, Clemson went up 50-49 when Grantham knocked down a 3-pointer. The bucket gave the Tigers their first lead since they were up 5-3 with 17:52 to play in the first half.

The first half deficit grew to as many as 11, before the 34-26 score at the half.

Alabama also won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding Clemson, 44-30. The Tide used 21 offensive rebounds for 12 second chance points.

“We’ve all got to rebound better,” said Landry Nnoko, who finished with six. “We’ve got to be better.”

He led the Tigers on the offensive end with 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the field.

“I feel like I failed, at times, to lead my team, especially late in the stretch, especially missing free-throws, which is really important,” Nnoko said.

Leading scorer Jaron Blossomgame was held to eight points on 2 of 7 shooting from the field. His only shot from behind the 3-point line was a full-court desperation shot at the buzzer.

“They were denying Jaron on everything,” Brownell said. “It was hard to get him the ball, which is one of the reasons Landry had 15 points, because they were taking a guy out of help position, which opened up more space inside for Landry to be able to score.

“But I think Jaron did get a little bit frustrated at times. He’s got to learn how to play through that. There’s going to be nights when that happens. You’ve got to impact the game in other ways.”

Clemson returns is back in action on Tuesday night when PC comes to The Well for a 7 o’clock tip.