Clemson outlasted Georgia, 97-94, on Sunday in an overtime thriller to win the championship game of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic at TD Arena.

Clemson scored the first four points of overtime and edged Georgia, 17-14, in the extra period.

Georgia’s Blue Cain made a circus 3-pointer with six seconds left in overtime to cut Clemson’s lead to 95-94. Clemson inbounded the ball to Dillon Hunter, who was immediately fouled, and made both free throws to give the Tigers a 97-94 lead with four seconds left. Georgia’s Jeremiah Wilkinson then heaved the ball from beyond half court and missed, sealing Clemson’s win as time expired.

The game was knotted up at 80 at the end of regulation after Kareem Stagg’s dunk with 12 seconds left tied the score. Clemson’s Jestin Porter missed a close-range shot attempt in the final seconds, as it rolled off the rim, sending the game to overtime.

Clemson improved to 6-1 on the season, while handing Georgia (6-1) its first loss. The game featured 12 ties and eight lead changes.

Porter led Clemson with 18 points, while Hunter had 16. Georgia transfer RJ Godfrey netted 12 points for the Tigers, who also got double-figure points from Efrem Johnson (13), Carter Welling (11) and Zac Foster (11).

Wilkinson scored a game-high 26-points for Georgia.

Welling opened the scoring in the second half with an emphatic slam dunk, and then Porter nailed 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give the Tigers a 54-44 lead at the 15:27 mark of the second period, their largest lead of the day.

After Clemson led 57-47 at the 14:11 mark of the second half, Georgia responded with a 13-0 run to take a 60-57 lead at the 11:12 mark of the second half, but Clemson regained the lead, 65-64, on Hunter’s 3 with 8:42 to play.

Clemson led 80-78 with 22 seconds remaining before Georgia tied it up in the waning moments of the second half.

The Tigers had a 41-40 advantage after a back-and-forth first half.

Clemson trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, but the Tigers went on an 8-0 run before the under-eight timeout to cut into the deficit, and they would eventually take a 38-35 lead when Foster hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 left in the half. It marked Clemson’s first lead since it was 2-0 less than a minute into the half.

However, Georgia answered back to retake the lead, 40-39, on a 3-pointer from Wilkinson with 46 seconds remaining in the half. But a pair of free throws by Godfrey with two seconds to play gave Clemson the lead going into halftime.

Clemson battled back from two double-digit deficits in the second half to knock off West Virginia, 70-67, in the semifinals of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic on Friday, while Georgia beat Xavier, 78-77, in the Charleston Classic semifinals on Friday.

Up Next

Clemson returns home to face Alabama A&M on Friday at Littlejohn Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ACCNX.