CLEMSON – With six minutes to play in the first half at Littlejohn Coliseum Friday night, Clemson trailed Georgetown by 19 points.

Around an hour later, the Tigers somehow led by two points with six minutes to play. Still, the Hoyas walked off with a 85-78 road win over Clemson, giving head coach Brad Brownell’s squad its first defeat of the young season.

Though Clemson (3-1) warded off an 18-0 first half run from Georgetown (4-0), the Hoyas made some late shots– both from the field and the free throw line– to fend off a scrappy pack of second half Tigers.

How it Happened

• The Tigers and Hoyas traded baskets early, thanks to made three-pointers by Clemson big men David Fuchs and Liutauras Lelevicius, in addition to four points from guard Ace Buckner. After being tied at 14 after seven minutes of play, Georgetown went on a 18-0 run to grab a 25-14 lead.
• The Tigers did not score for over four minutes in that span, going 0-for-7 from beyond the arc while Georgetown brought its average up to 50 percent from long range with five makes. 
• Clemson did stop the bleeding with three-pointers from Cole Certa and Dallas Thomas, but could not get a stop on the defensive end as the Hoyas went 9-of-9 from the field. They led by as many as 19 in the first half.
• As time ticked down before the intermission, the Tigers did record four consecutive stops and scored 11 points to bring the score 47-32 at the break.
• In the first half, Georgetown scored 20 points to Clemson’s 12. They shot 58 percent from the field compared to Clemson’s 40 percent on just one fewer shot attempt. Both teams had five offensive rebounds and the Hoyas grabbed five more defensive rebounds.
• In a total flip of reality, the first six minutes of the second half all belonged to Clemson. The Tigers held the Hoyas scoreless for 2:31, going on a 6-0 run and scoring five points off of turnovers to cut the lead to eight. Georgetown coach Ed Cooley was forced to call a timeout with 13:59 to play in front of a Littlejohn Coliseum crowd steadily increasing in volume.
• Clemson’s first half shooting woes continued to dissipate as the Tigers shot 70 percent from the floor and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc in the first ten minutes of the second half. On the other hand, the red hot Hoyas cooled off, shooting just 33 percent from the floor, largely thanks to Clemson’s increased defensive intensity.
• Certa made a three-pointer in transition to take a 62-61 lead, the first Clemson advantage since the score was 14-12. The Hoyas answered with a long range make of their own.
• Georgetown made four straight free throw attempts and a layup off of a bad Clemson turnover to take a seven-point lead with three minutes to play.
• Another layup and a late three-pointer put the game out of reach for the Tigers, despite a late Chase Thompson three-pointer to cut the final lead to five points.
• Clemson’s Ace Buckner finished with 20 points and five assists. Certa had 14 points on 3-of-7 shooting from long range and Lelevicius added 10 points.
• Georgetown guard Jaland Lowe led all scorers with 21 points, big man Vince Iwuchukwu finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Elmarko Jackson had 17, combining for nearly 70 percent of the Hoyas’ total points as a trio.

Up Next

The Tigers will look to get back in the win column on Monday, when they will host the Citadel, an in-state, Southern Conference foe, at 7 p.m.