Clemson used a 12-0 run to start the second half, while holding Pitt to just five second-half field goals in a 67-60 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday at the Petersen Center in Pittsburgh. The win snapped the Tigers’ six-game losing streak for their first win since a Dec. 31 road win at Wake Forest.

“All week we knew there is still a lot of basketball left to play. Coach (Brad Brownell) wanted us to focus on the defensive end,” Clemson forward Jaron Blossomgame said to the Fox Sports Regional Network afterwards. “Coming into the game, we were one of the worst in the conference playing defense and that is not our identity so our main goal was to get back to our identity.”

The Tigers (12-8, 2-6 ACC) did that by harassing Pitt on the defensive end of the court to start the second half. The Panthers turned the basketball over two times on their first five possessions and missed their first three shots.

After going 7-of-14 from behind the arc in the first half, Pitt was just 1-for-10 in the second half. Clemson held the ACC’s top two scorers in Jamel Artis and Michael Young to 16 and 14 points. They both came in averaging more than 20 points per game.

“I’m extremely excited for the way our guys competed defensively today,” Brownell said afterwards on the Clemson Tigers Sports Network. “We have been working on it for a couple of weeks and especially this week when we kind of had extra time. It’s the first week in the season we have had time to really practice and not just game plan. I think it showed.

“Our guys were really committed today. I thought we were very connected out on the floor and I think we played with tremendous effort and just kind of played through some things.”

What the Tigers played through was a first half that saw both teams shoot 48 percent from the field. Though Clemson was getting the ball inside and scoring a lot of points in the paint, Pitt was bombing away from three-point range, including a long three at the end of the half by Artis to give the Panthers a 36-31 halftime lead.

“When I went in at halftime, I thought it was a real good back-and-forth game, but we were behind because we had given up three putbacks, and then one at the end of the half that was an extra possession that resulted in the last play,” Brownell said. “I told the guys to just stay the course and keep doing what we are doing.”

Blossomgame said Brownell empathized they had to continue to play defense and had to eliminate the second chance points. Clemson did that by owning the defensive boards for a 28-21 advantage on the defensive glass and had a 36-34 advantage overall.

“We had a lot of guys play well offensively in the first half, but we just could not get stops,” Blossomgame said. “In the second half, Coach really emphasized playing better defense and getting stops and we did that and I think we won the rebound battle. We had not done that in a long time.”

Clemson led by as many as 10 points in the second half, while the Panthers drew no closer than three points.

However, Pitt (12-9, 1-7 ACC) lived at the foul line in the second half, which kept it in the game. Fourteen of the Panthers’ 24-second half points came from the foul line.

However, the Tigers outscored Pitt 36-10 in the paint, while holding the Panthers to 33-percent shooting. Pitt was just 5-of-28 (17.8 percent) from the field in the second half.

Blossomgame had a balanced game for the Tigers as he scored 13 of his 25 points in the first half, including 10 of the team’s first 14 points.

“I’m the leader of this team, and guys want to see me come in and play well in environments like this,” the senior said. “Guys feed off that energy and they played well.”

Shelton Mitchell scored 12 points, had six assists and more importantly did not turn the basketball over, while Marcquise Reed added 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Gabe DeVoe added nine points, including a huge putback with 3:27 to play with two seconds left on the shot clock. His putback gave Clemson a 64-57 lead at the time.

Blossomgame was 10-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range. He also had seven rebounds, while Donte Grantham added eight boards.

Clemson returns home to host Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

“We still have a lot of basketball left to play,” Blossomgame said. “We still have ten conference games left and we have to make the most of our opportunities. This is a huge road win for us to get our confidence going and we have to be prepared for another game this week.”

–Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports