CLEMSON — DJ Horne made a shot with nine seconds to play, lifting NC State to a stunning 78-77 come-from-behind victory over Clemson Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Tigers’ Chase Hunter had a run at the basket as time started to run down, but his layup bounced off the back rim with one second to play, as the Wolfpack hung on for the win.

NC State rallied from 12 points down in the second half to earn the victory.

It appeared Clemson (17-8, 7-7 ACC) was going to have an opportunity at the victory with 30 seconds to go. But that did not happen.

After making the first free throw on a one-and-one attempt, with 31 seconds to play, NC State’s Mohamed Diarra missed the bonus shot and Clemson’s PJ Hall grabbed the rebound. But he was crossed up and the possession arrow went in the favor of the Wolfpack.

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell explained after the game that NC State gained possession in that key moment due to the fact a jump ball situation was called with 2:00 to go.

According to Brownell, the officials called a jump ball at that time because the shot-clock operator reset a missed NC State three-pointer from Jayden Taylor with three seconds to go that did not touch the rim.

Clemson thought the play resulted in a shot-clock violation for the Wolfpack, but instead the officials were forced to call a jump ball and the Tigers’ owned the possession arrow at the time.

“That ultimately came back to haunt us,” Brownell said.

Horne scored a game-high 27 points as he connected on 10 of 20 field goals and was 5-for-11 from three-point range. Joseph Girard led Clemson with 23 points.

The biggest basket from Girard came with 1:07 to play, as he drove the lane and then hit a fadeaway as he was falling backwards for 77-73 advantage. The graduate transfer scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half.

Besides Girard’s 23 points, the Tigers also got 18 points and seven rebounds from Hall, while Hunter and RJ Godfrey added 10 points each. Forward Jack Clark, playing against his old school, scored eight points on 3-for-4 shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds with one steal and one blocked shot.

Diarra scored 11 points for NC State, while Taylor added 12 points and DJ Burns had 14 points.

Clemson opened the second half with a 14-2 run, including 14 straight points to take a 49-41 lead with 16:08 to play. The Tigers increased their lead to as many as 12 points, 61-49, with 10:19 to go.

Girard played a big role in Clemson gaining control of the game, as he aggressively attacked the paint to start the second half and then started launching threes. At one point, he scored 10 of Clemson’s 14 points during a four-minute stretch.

However, the Wolfpack (16-9, 8-6 ACC) whittled the Clemson lead down by using runs of 8-0 and 6-0 to close the score to one point, 69-68, with 4:09 to play. During NC State’s latter run, the Tigers missed seven of eight shots.

The Tigers trailed NC State at the break, 39-35. However, the half could not have ended any better for Clemson.

After watching the Wolfpack take a 39-29 lead thanks to Burns’ free throws with 1:46 to go, Girard drained a three-pointer from the top of the key and then after Clark blocked a Burns shot, Hunter nailed a three-pointer of his own with 13 seconds to play.

Wiggins then blocked Horne’s three-point attempt with one second to play to end the half.

NC State missed their last six shots of the first half.

WHAT IT MEANS

Clemson had an opportunity to jump into a tie for fourth place with Wake Forest and Pittsburgh in the ACC standings, instead it finds itself in a tie for seventh place with Florida State.

The top four seeds get a double-bye in next month’s ACC Tournament.

“That is why we are kind of upset today. That would have pushed us above the glop tonight,” Brownell said.

The loss also snapped Clemson’s three-game win streak.

INJURIES

Alex Hemenway continues to be out (lower body). Brownell again spoke about how limited Hall and Ian Schieffelin have been in practice due to nagging injuries and Hall recovering from sickness earlier this week.

UP NEXT

Clemson heads down I-85 South to take on Georgia Tech on Wednesday in Atlanta. Tip is set for 7 p.m., on the ACCN.