Box Score Final Box

CLEMSON, S.C.—Devin Booker lead a balanced Clemson scoring attack with 13 points as Clemson defeated Alabama State University 70-45 in men's collegiate basketball action.
 
The Tigers entered the game with five players scoring over eight points, and that is what they had tonight as Milton Jennings added 12 and Tanner Smith had eight with Bryan Narcisse and T.J. Sapp adding seven.
 
Clemson used their superior post players to outscore ASU 32-12 in the paint on their way to shooting 50 percent (24-48) from the field.  The Tigers also shot 25 free throws, hitting 18, while ASU only hit five of nine from the charity stripe.
 
The taller Tigers out rebounded ASU 40-25 and that included 12 offensive rebounds which led to nine second chance points.
 
“We got off to a decent start and had the game going at the pace we wanted,” head coach Lewis Jackson said.  “We stopped them on three straight possessions, but then turned around and had three consecutive turnovers and they scored off all of them and it turned their five point lead into an 11 point lead.  We found ourselves in a hole from there and were not able to get back out of it and went down by 15 at halftime.”
 
Kenderek Washington once again led the Hornets in scoring with 10 points, but he was the only double-digit scorer for ASU, as they continued their shooting woes, knocking down only 33 percent (17-52) of their shots.  Tramaine Butler and Stephawn Brown both added nine points while Washington, Ivory White and Butler each had five rebounds.
 
“We are still facing a problem of not being able to score,” Jackson added.  “We are getting the ball to the players that we are counting on scoring and you have to give Clemson credit because they do a good job of playing defense as they have all year.  They are very well coached.  But again our issue as we continue to move forward is our problem of not being able to score.”
 
The first half saw the Tigers build their 15 point lead as they had balanced scoring with eight different players scoring led by Jenning's eight points off the bench.  The Tigers shot 52 percent from the field and held the Hornets to only 30 percent.
 
The Hornets received eight first-half points from Washington with six of those points coming on two three-pointers.  The Hornets rebounded well against the taller Tigers in the first half with 16 boards, but ASU committed 10 turnovers which helped Clemson's cause.

With the loss, ASU moves to 2-8 on the season while Clemson moves to 6-4.
 
The Hornets have one game remaining on this road trip, against the University of Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 22^nd at 6 p.m.