It took a late run to get it done, as the Clemson basketball team overcame a second-half deficit to knock off Mercer at home on Saturday, 70-63.

The Tigers outscored the Bears 15-5 down the stretch to improve to 8-3 on the season.

Coming off back-to-back heartbreaking losses to Alabama and BYU, two Top 15 teams, head coach Brad Brownell readily admitted this might have served as a trap game for his team.

“Oh yeah, these are hard,” Brownell added. “It is hard to get your guys really ready. And our guys were fine. We weren’t not ready to play. I think that is an easy excuse. I think we were ready to play. We practiced well yesterday. I just thought we looked a little tired, a little slow.”

“Proud of my team, but this was probably bad scheduling in all honesty.”

Clemson didn’t arrive home until around 2 am Thursday morning following the loss to BYU in Madison Square Garden, and then had to not only be ready for finals, but the team also took part in Tiger Wonderland, where the men’s and women’s basketball teams host area children to make sure they have the opportunity to have a merry Christmas.

“I think sometimes the emotional drain of all that, the way we lost (to BYU) and how much we put into that, and all the things we have done between then and now,” Brownell added. “Guys having to deal with finals, Tiger Wonderland —your batteries are on, and sometimes when your battery is on like that, it can wear down. I just think that is what kind of happened to us a little bit.

“I thought the first 10 minutes we just looked slow. We just looked heavy-legged. No disrespect to Mercer, I think Mercer is really good, really well coached. And obviously, they were really ready to play. I think they had kind of had a week to get prepared, and they came in here to win the game.”

After having trailed for much of the second half, freshman Zac Foster knocked down a three with just over 4:30 minutes left in the game, giving the Tigers a 60-58 lead that it would never relinquish.

Dillon Hunter led the way for Clemson with 15 points, including hitting on three critical free throws late that put the game away.

“Defensively, I thought our guys showed a lot of grit in the second half. First half, we did not defend very well,” Brownell said. “A couple of small adjustments and then our guys just gutted it out. Played a little bit better and a little bit harder. And offensively, we just kind of hung in there. It wasn’t a pretty game for us in terms of sharing the ball, but we had some guys step up and make some plays.”

Clemson improves to a perfect 6-0 at home this season, with rival South Carolina coming to town on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. tipoff.