It has been a while since Clemson fans have seen their Tigers win a home basketball game at the newly renovated Littlejohn Coliseum. It’s been since Dec. 28 to be exact.

Clemson ended its three-game losing streak on Wednesday night and started another thanks to a 74-62 victory over Georgia Tech. It was the Tigers second straight victory and improved their record to 13-8 overall and 3-6 in the ACC.

Georgia Tech, who was coming off back-to-back wins over top 15 teams, fell to 13-9 overall and 5-5 in the conference.

The Tigers forced 17 turnovers on the defensive end of the court, which resulted in a 17-10 advantage with points off turnovers. They also held every one on Tech’s team not named Ben Lammers, who scored a career-high 25 points, to 11-of-35 shooting.

The Yellow Jackets’ 62 points also marked the second straight game Clemson held its opponent to 62 or fewer points after allowing more than 80 during their six-game losing streak.

“We have worked (on defense) a lot,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “We went twice on Monday and we went twice on Wednesday and Thursday last week. I just think this team has to continue to take strides in that area. We certainly can be better and I think we are working towards it.”

Brownell feels his team is finally understanding why it so important to play defense in the ACC.

“Teams are really talented in this league,” Brownell said. “A guy like Ben Lammers is a phenomenal player. I said it after the game in Atlanta that guy is a pro. He has an unbelievable soft shot. He is making some tough shots, some guarded shots. In this league you are dealing with guys who can score because you are dealing with pros. But at the same time, you cannot give them any easy baskets.

“We even started off giving up some easy baskets right away on things we practiced and walked through and shown on videos. We got that corrected.”

The Tigers used a 7-0 run in the final 71 seconds in the first half to grab control of the game. It got started with a Donte Grantham dunk after the backdoor feed from Elijah Thomas. Avery Holmes followed with a three-pointer and then Shelton Mitchell made a driving layup with two seconds left to extend the halftime advantage to seven points, 32-25, at the break.

Clemson extended its lead to start the second half with a 7-1 run, pushing its lead to 39-26 with 17:17 to play in the game. Mitchell, Grantham and Thomas each made baskets in the mini run.

The Tigers stretch the lead to as many as 21 points at 58-37 with 8:44 to play when Mitchell again drove the lane and created contact for a basket and one.

Mitchell had 15 points and three assists, while Avery Holmes had a team-high 18 points thanks to 4-of-4 shooting from behind the arc. Grantham added 11 points while Thomas had his best game as a Tiger to date with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Jaron Blossomgame finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Clemson travels to Florida State on Sunday for a 12:20 tip. The game will be televised on ESPNU.