Freshman Ace Buckner’s season-high 19 points and Carter Welling’s 16 gave huge boosts off the bench as host Clemson beat South Carolina 68-61 on Tuesday night in the annual matchup of in-state rivals.
The Tigers (9-3) have won two games in a row and this one came largely because of work at the defensive end.
Mike Sharavjamts and Kobe Knox each had 13 points for South Carolina (7-4), which was in desperate need of a signature result. This was the only true nonconference road game on the Gamecocks’ schedule.
South Carolina scoring leader Meechie Johnson didn’t score until nearly 27 minutes into the game. Johnson, who was 0-for-2 from the field in 15 minutes of the first half, recorded his first field goal with 7:52 remaining and he finished with eight points.
The Gamecocks, who have dropped four of their last seven games, couldn’t overcome 14 turnovers as a two-game winning streak ended.
South Carolina also had another miserable outing with 3-point shooting, hitting only four of 26 attempts from beyond the arc (15.4%). The Gamecocks avoided a blowout by making 19 of 23 free throws, but they shot 37.3% overall from the field in their lowest-scoring outing of the season.
Buckner made seven of 12 shots from the floor, helping Clemson’s reserves outscore the team’s starters by 41-27.
Welling’s glitches came with 5-for-13 shooting on free throws, though he was 5-for-7 from the field.
The Tigers were up 56-43 on Welling’s three-point play with 6:55 left in regulation. Four straight points by Nordin Kapic pulled South Carolina within 65-58 with 2:12 to play before Johnson missed a 3-pointer that would have tightened the gap.
By the time Kapic went 1-for-2 at the foul line for a 65-59 deficit, there were just 48 seconds remaining.
Clemson led 34-27 at halftime. The Gamecocks managed only five points in nearly the first seven minutes of the second half, with the Tigers eventually building a 46-34 lead.
