Clemson has played consecutive games without its starting frontcourt. The Tigers have won both of them.

Three days earlier, it was more than half a hundred combined points from Chase Hunter, Al-Amir Dawes and Nick Honor that propelled Clemson to an upset of Wake Forest. On Saturday, the Tigers’ defense stole the show.

Now Clemson (14-15, 6-12 ACC) has its first winning streak in ACC play following a 70-60 victory at Boston College. Hunter poured in a career-high 23 points while Dawes added 16 points, and Clemson held the Eagles (11-17, 6-12) to just 36% shooting in their own building, a vast improvement from the teams’ first meeting more than a month earlier.

Again without the services of two of its top three scorers in Hunter Tyson (broken clavicle) and PJ Hall (foot), Clemson also got a lift from freshman center Ben Middlebrooks, who posted career-highs in points (8), rebounds (9) and minutes (27).

“We got a huge shot in the arm with the win against Wake, and I think our kids came here believing we could win,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “And we played well enough to win today.”

Boston College made more than 48% of its shots back on Jan. 15 to escape Littlejohn Coliseum with a two-point win, pulling off one of the largest comebacks in ACC history in the process. This time around, Clemson, mixing up extended pressure, a 3-2 zone and man defense throughout, clamped down to eventually pull away in what began as a tightly contested matchup.

The Tigers trailed 35-34 with 15:03 left before holding the Eagles without a field goal for more than 8 minutes. Clemson took the lead on three free throws from Hunter, who scored eight straight points to ignite a 17-2 run that gave the Tigers their largest lead, 51-37, with 7:32 left.

“(Brownell) was telling us to lock in on the shooters, know personnel and don’t let them get any momentum,” Hunter said. “They did come back a little bit, but we withstood their run. We just played tough and played hard when they hit a few shots.”

Boston College answered with a 16-8 spurt over the next 5 minutes and change to get back within single digits, but defense again came through for the Tigers to stifle Boston College’s momentum. Naz Bohannon came up with a diving steal and got a timeout to preserve possession for Clemson with 1:40 left, and the Tigers made 11 of 14 free throws in the final 63 seconds to close out the win.

“Sometimes it’s hard. You lose your fight a little bit,” Brownell said of the first matchup with Boston College. “Then other team punches you back, and you’re not always ready to go. And we hard time in that game that day getting our competitive fight up to the level that we needed. Today, I thought we had incredible fight from start to finish.”

After going for 21 points against Wake Forest, Hunter set a new career-high in points for the second time in as many games, shooting 7 of 9 from the field and 8 of 10 from the charity stripe. He scored 17 of his points after halftime. The Tigers also got 10 points and 10 rebounds from David Collins.

“Really my confidence these past few months has been at a high level,” said Hunter, who’s made 17 of 21 shots from the field over the last two games. “For me, it’s been my shot selection. Haven’t really been settling for maybe contested 3s or contested 2s. Just attacking and trying to get fouled.”

Clemson led 28-25 at the half behind 11 first-half points from Dawes, whose hot shooting against Wake Forest carried over to the start of Saturday’s game. Dawes, coming off a 19-point performance against the Demon Deacons, knocked down four of his first six shots, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

Honor scored seven of his nine points in the first 20 minutes, and the Tigers also got more productive minutes from Middlebrooks in his second straight start in Hall’s absence. The 6-foot-10, 230-pounder scored four points and had a career-high in rebounds (6) before halftime. 

“We’ve seen Ben continue to improve,” Brownell said. “He’s always been physical. He’s always been able to rebound. He does a good job doing to the offensive glass. He can hold his man off and defensive rebound.”

Middlebrooks’ layup with 1:15 left capped a 15-8 spurt to end the first half for the Tigers, who held Boston College to 20% shooting before the break. The defense continued to make life difficult for the Eagles from there, which, combined with more help from the backcourt, was good enough to keep Clemson in the win column without a couple of key pieces.

“Just a great win,” Brownell said. “Couldn’t be more proud of this incredible week for our guys. A lot of hard work paid off.”

Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.

Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help.  #SaveNicks