Hall, Girard show way to help Clemson rout Queens
CLEMSON, S.C. — PJ Hall had 27 points and Glens Falls graduate Joe Girard III scored 19 as No. 18 Clemson bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 109-79 victory over Queens on Friday night.
The Tigers (10-1) perfect start ended last week with a 79-77 loss at No. 23 Memphis. Hall, Girard and the rest of the team made sure they returned to the winning track in their first meeting with the Royals (6-8) of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Queens, which averages 80 points a game, stuck close enough to the Tigers much of the first half and were down just 36-27 after Bryce Cash’s 3-point play with 7:25 left before halftime. That’s when Clemson closed with a 33-9 run to take control and a 69-36 lead at the break.
Hall, a junior, had his highest scoring first half of his career with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Girard, the Syracuse transfer, had 16 points in the period with three 3-pointers. Both sat for much of the second half as Clemson maintained the sizeable edge.
RJ Godfrey had a career-best 19 points for Clemson, surpassing his mark of 12 set earlier this season in a win over Winthrop.
No. 19 Texas 71, Texas A&m-corpus Christi 55: At Austin, Texas, Dillon Mitchell had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Texas beat Texas A&m-corpus Christi.
Texas shot 48% from the field and had five players score in double figures. Max Abmas scored 17 points, and Dylan Disu and Tyrese Hunter each had 11 points. Brock Cunningham finished with 10.
Mitchell grabbed 10 rebounds in the second half of his fifth double-double this season. The sophomore had one double-double last year.
No. 20 James Madison 89, Morgan State 75: At Baltimore, Terrence Edwards Jr. scored 29 points to surpass 1,000 for his career and No. 20 James Madison will enter conference play undefeated.
The Dukes (12-0) are one of three Division I men’s teams that have yet to lose, along with No. 3 Houston and No. 25 Mississippi. James Madison began the season with an overtime victory at then-no. 4 Michigan State, and after outlasting Kent State in double OT, the Dukes entered the Top 25 for the first time.
They haven’t slowed down since, and now they’ll try to continue their unbeaten run against their conference opponents in the Sun Belt. Their nonconference schedule isn’t completely done, however. James Madison has a Feb. 10 game — against an opponent to be determined — that’s part of a challenge series between the Sun Belt and the Mid-american Conference.
Women
No. 13 Ohio State 84, Belmont 55: At Columbus, Ohio, Jacy Sheldon made five 3-pointers on her way to 31 points, and Ohio State beat Belmont 84-55.
Sheldon was 12 for 18 from the floor. She scored 30 points during Monday night’s 77-71 loss to No. 2 UCLA.
Celeste Taylor added 15 points and Rikki Harris scored 10 for Ohio State (10-2). Taylor Thierry had nine points and nine rebounds.
No. 16 Indiana 84, Bowling Green 35: At Bloomington, Ind., — Sara Scalia made eight 3-pointers and scored a seasonhigh 32 points, leading Indiana to its ninth straight win.
Scalia, a second-year transfer from Minnesota who came in shooting 43.7% on 3-pointers, was 8 of 11 from the arc before leaving midway through the fourth quarter.
Mackenzie Holmes had 10 points for the Hoosiers (10-1).
No. 20 Gonazaga 67, New Mexico 56: At Spokane, Wash., Yvonne Ejim scored 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting, leading Gonzaga to the victory.
Brynna Maxwell had 14 points for the Zags, and Kaylynne Truong finished with 12 points and seven assists.