By Will Vandervort.

Clemson built a 23-point halftime lead and then withstood a mad NC State rally in the second half to escape PNC Arena with a 68-57 victory on Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C.

The Wolfpack cut the lead to three points, 47-44, on an Abu Abdul-Malik dunk with 9:05 to play. But Jaron Blossomgame, who struggled all night shooting the ball, got a layup after the Tigers broke the ‘Packs’ full-court press. On the next possession Donte Grantham cleared the lane and blew past Abu for another layup, while Demarcus Harrison produced another a few moments later to up the lead back to nine points, 53-44, with 7:01 left on the clock.

NC State (13-9, 4-5 ACC) got a three from Trevor Lacey to make the score, 53-47, with 6:03 to play, but the Wolfpack did not score again for another four minutes and one second. By that time, Clemson extended its lead back to 11 points following a Landry Nnoko dunk.

Clemson (12-8, 4-4 ACC) was led by Jordan Roper’s 18 points on 5 of 11 shooting, while Rod Hall scored 11 points and Landry Nnoko scored 10. Hall’s 11 points all came in the first half, while Nnoko scored his 10 points in the second.

Overall, the Tigers shot 47.2 percent from the field, including 52.4 percent in the second half.  Clemson was 6 of 12 from three-point range. Blossomgame scored just seven points, but he grabbed 12 rebound to make up for the poor shooting night.

Lacey led NC State with 17 points—14 coming in the second half—while Abu had 15 points and Ralston Turner had 10. The Wolfpack came into the game averaging 72.3 points per game and were shooting 46 percent from the field, but Clemson held them to 28.9 percent shooting as they made just 18 of 63 shots.

Clemson used a 25-2 run in the first half to build a 27-8 lead following a Roper three-pointer with 8:30 to play in the opening half.

The Tigers extended the lead to as many as 23 points, 36-13, after Hall hit back-to-back jumpers, including a three-pointer as part of a 9-0 run. Harrison and Smith both hit jump shots as well.

Clemson’s defense was dominant in the opening half. It was all over NC State’s Lacey and Turner as the Wolfpack, one of the ACC’s best scoring offenses, shot just 23.1 percent from the field. Lacey was held to three points, while Turner scored just four in the opening 20 minutes.

The Tigers also had five blocked shots and forced seven NC State turnovers. Clemson finished the game with nine blocks.

On the offensive end, Clemson connected on 43.8 of its shots, including 5 of 10 from three-point range. Hall had 11 first half points, while Roper knocked in 10 points.

Clemson will come home to Littlejohn on Saturday as it hosts Boston College at noon.