Clemson rallies to edge Florida
SUNRISE, Fla. — Marcquise Reed threw a 75-foot pass in the final minute to put the Clemson Tigers ahead, and kept them there by making a free throw mix-up moot.
With the junior guard’s help, Clemson rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half Saturday to beat No. 22 Florida 71-69 in the Orange Bowl Classic.
Clemson (9-1) beat a ranked team for only the eighth time in school history and continued its best start since 2008.
“It was a real good victory for our program — a steppingstone for the future,” Reed said.
Florida (6-4) lost for the fourth time in the past five games, and Clemson won despite having a point taken off the scoreboard with 4 seconds left. Elijah Thomas’ free throw put the Tigers up 70-68, but the point was wiped out when the officials realized it was Reed who had been fouled.
Reed then made two free throws to help seal the victory.
Before that, with the Tigers trailing 68-67, Reed rebounded a missed 3-point attempt by Florida’s KeVaughn Allen and threw a football-style pass from one free-throw lane to the other, hitting Thomas on the run for an easy score.
“We didn’t sprint back the way we were supposed to,” Gators guard Jalen Hudson said. “(Thomas) leaked out before anybody had secured the rebound, which was a risky play for him, but it ended up going in their favor.”
Florida coach Mike White said the designated safety on defense blew his assignment.
“In the locker room, the guy whose job it was raised his hand and said, ‘Coach, my bad,’” White said. “I’d rather not say who that is.’”
White has been unhappy with his team’s transition defense this season. The Gators allowed only seven fastbreak points, but that included Thomas’ decisive dunk.
Reed finished with 22 points, six assists and five rebounds, and was voted the outstanding player. Gabe DeVoe added 19 points and six rebounds for the Tigers, who shot 51 percent.
Clemson led for only 80 seconds, but coach Brad Brownell earned his 300th victory.
“Obviously a terrific win for our team,” Brownell said. “For most of the game, it felt like Florida was in control. We did a good job in a couple instances of battling back.”
Hudson scored the Gators’ first 12 points and finished with 23, but the Gators shot 1 for 10 over the final 5:19.
“We had some decent shots,” White said. “We just weren’t able to convert.”
The meeting was the first between the teams since 1957.
No. 19 Florida State lost Oklahoma State 71-70 in the game of the doubleheader. to first
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kevin Knox scored 21 points, Hamidou Diallo added 20, including a big 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining, and No. 8 Kentucky outlasted Virginia Tech for its most significant victory this season.
The Wildcats won their seventh straight and hit a season-high 11 3-pointers, with six players making at least one. Kentucky (9-1) finished 11 of 22 from behind the arc. Quade Green added 17 points with a pair of 3s while wearing shaded protective glasses after injuring his eye last week against Monmouth.
A back-and-forth game featuring 11 lead changes, eight ties and plenty of perimeter fireworks eventually swung Kentucky’s way down the stretch thanks to Knox and Diallo, whose 3-pointer with 4:54 left made it 78- 71. Diallo’s free throw with 13 seconds left provided an eight-point edge and Knox’s two free throws five seconds later sealed the outcome.
Ahmed Hill had 20 points, Justin Robinson 19 and Kerry Blackshear 18 for Virginia Tech (8-2), which entered the game leading the nation in scoring (96.2 points). The Hokies shot 58 percent and 10 of 22 from long range but committed 19 turnovers leading to 36 Kentucky points.
OXFORD — Perspective was no problem for both head coaches after Keyshawn Evans scored 25 points, including the go-ahead basket in overtime as Illinois State defeated Ole Miss.
“I’m still not quite sure how we won this game,” said Illinois State coach Dan Muller, as he quickly walked off the court while his team celebrated behind him. “It’s big. But it only stays big if we keep winning.”
Illinois State (5-6), led by as many as 14 points in the second half and missed a potential game-winning shot to send it to overtime at 87-87. Evans, who added seven assists and four rebounds, hit a 3-point shot to open overtime — his fifth bucket of the game from behind the arc — and the Redbirds never trailed again.
“It’s incredible. We’ve lost three games in overtime in our own building. Incredible,” Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy said. “I’m responsible for this. It’s ridiculous and it’s embarrassing for me.”
Milik Yarbrough also scored 25 points while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out eight assists to highlight a balanced Illinois State attack. Phil Fayne scored 16 points with 10 rebounds and Madison Williams added 14 points.
Ole Miss (5-5) was led by Bruce Stevens with 27 points while Terence Davis scored 17 points with a teamhigh nine rebounds. Deandre Burnett scored 19 points with seven assists while Breein Tyree and Marcanvis Hymon added 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Illinois State shot 31 of 73 (43 percent) from the field, 13 of 31 (42 percent) from 3-point range, including consecutive shots from Evans and Matt Hein to build an insurmountable lead to open overtime. The Redbirds finished 26 of 31 (84 percent) from the free throw line.
The Rebels were 31 of 73 (43 percent) from the field and 7 of 26 (27 percent) from the 3-point line. Stevens was 13 of 16 from the free throw line as Ole Miss finished 28 of 37 (76 percent), but were out rebounded 49-41 by the Redbirds.
AMHERST, Mass. — Luwane Pipkins scored 10 of his 17 points in the opening five minutes, freshman Carl Pierre had 15 points on careerbest five 3-pointers and Massachusetts cruised by Georgia.
It was the 10th win for UMass over an SEC opponent and the first since a 92-90 victory against LSU at home on Nov. 12, 2013.
Rashaan Holloway added 12 points, Chris Baldwin 11 and C.J. Anderson 10 for UMass (6-5), which is unbeaten in six home games. The Minutemen were 12 of 22 from distance.
Pipkins, who leads UMass with 18.9 points per game, made his first four shots and scored 10 of UMass’ first 16 points for a 14-point lead. The Minutemen led 24-9 at the 10-minute mark as Georgia opened the game making 4-of-14 shots.
UMass led by 22 points in the first half and it was 43-24 at halftime after the Minutemen made 56.7 percent of their shots, including 8 of 13 3-pointers. The Minutemen had 13 assists on 17 field goals. Georgia was just 10-of-31 shooting in the first half with seven makes coming from Yante Maten.
“We got off to a terrible start,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “We had not practiced well and we played the exact same way. The defense wasn’t near what it needs to be at to win on the road. We didn’t play well, but give UMass credit for taking the first swing. In the second half, we started to look like ourselves, but you can’t dig that big of a hole.”
Maten scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half for Georgia (7-2), which was coming off an 11-day break for final exams. It was Maten’s fourth 20-point game of the year and 25th at UGA.
Pipkins used a crossover to create space and nailed a long 3-pointer to put UMass ahead 63-47 midway through the second half.
Tyree Crump hit 3-pointers on backto-back possessions, pulling Georgia to 65-55. But Anderson hit two free throws and a 3-pointer to give UMass a 15-point lead. The Bulldogs went without a field goal for five minutes down the stretch.
Georgia got within single digits, 7062, for the first time since 17:26 in the first half on William Jackson II’s floater with 11 seconds remaining in the game.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Ivan Canete’s layup with five seconds remaining lifted Stephen F. Austin to a victory against LSU.
Canete, who scored a season-high 20 points, made his game-winner after Tremont Waters put the Tigers (6-3) ahead with a 3-pointer with 18 seconds to play. LSU had an opportunity to win the game, but Aaron Epps missed a driving lay-in at the buzzer.
Canete, who was 8-of-11 from the field