CHARLOTTE — Clemson was oh so close to pulling off a comeback of epic proportions against Louisville in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament on Friday night.

The third-seeded Tigers trailed by double digits for much of the second half and, with 2:02 left in the contest, found themselves trailing 72-61.

Clemson proceeded to go on a 12-2 run, with Chase Hunter scoring five of his 23 points over the final two minutes. His layup with 54 seconds left pulled the Tigers to within two at 74-72. After a defensive stop, Clemson had one final possession to either tie it up or take the lead with a three-pointer.

With about 10 seconds left, Hunter decided to drive the ball to the basket, getting absolutely mugged on the play. However, there was no foul called. After a second half filled with foul calls, the officials swallowed the whistle on what ended up being the most critical play of the game.

“Just trying to make a play,” Hunter said after the loss. “No comment on what happened. The refs, you know that is not up to me to make calls or anything like that. But just trying to make a play and help the team.”

Head coach Brad Brownell was also asked if he had any comment on the no-call.

“No,” Brownell replied. “Obviously, proud of my guys for making a tough play, taking it in there against their defense to try to score, get fouled, and there was certainly contact. It’s a hard play to referee.”

Louisville shot 12 more free throws than the Tigers (27-15), despite taking 20 fewer two-point shots. There were 21 total fouls called in the second half, after just 10 were called in the opening frame.

Despite the comeback bid coming up just one shot short, Hunter believes the Tigers showed a lot of fight late in the second half. With nothing going Clemson’s way for much of the final 20 minutes, it would have been easy to decide to live to fight another day.

That just isn’t in this team’s DNA. This team has shown time and again this season that it will fight to the final whistle, and despite the loss, once again the Tigers did just that.

“Just shows how gritty we are,” Hunter added. “We knew it wasn’t over with three minutes to go. We were just saying to keep fighting, and we gave ourselves a chance. It shows how gritty this team is.”

Clemson will now wait to find out who and where they will play in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Seedings and pairings will be announced on Sunday at 6 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images