National Basketball Association
Clemson 68, Arkansas 65
When: 5:00 PM ET, Sunday, December 7, 2014
Where: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, South Carolina
Officials:
# Tim Clougherty, # Karl Hess, # Doug Shows
Attendance:
6764
By SportsDirect Inc.
Clemson 68, No. 21 Arkansas 65 (OT): Rod Hall scored a season-high 19 points and Jaron Blossomgame added a career-high 17 as the host Tigers finished strong to stun the Razorbacks.
Donte Grantham contributed 14 points for Clemson (5-3), which earned its first home win over a ranked non-conference opponent since 1997. Blossomgame grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and Hall had four of the Tigers' seven steals.
Michael Qualls scored 21 points to lead Arkansas (6-2), which has lost two straight. Bobby Portis added 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Razorbacks, who were 6-for-21 from 3-point range including an ugly miss from Qualls on a potential game-tying shot with less than 10 seconds left.
The Tigers beat the Razorbacks at their own game in the final minute, as Hall hit a jumper and came up with a steal and layup to trim a six-point deficit to two and Grantham's steal led to an alley-oop from Damarcus Harrison to Blossomgame for the tying bucket with nine seconds left. Hall opened the overtime session with a 3-pointer and Landry Nnoko knocked down a jumper to give Clemson a five-point cushion, and the Tigers never trailed again.
Clemson led by four at halftime and was up 36-31 after a Blossomgame layup off a Hall steal with 17:27 left, but Alandise Harris responded with a 3-pointer to set off a 9-1 run for Arkansas. Portis tipped in a Harris miss and drove the lane for another bucket to push the margin to 57-51 with 1:18 remaining before the Tigers closed regulation with six straight points.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Arkansas entered the game as one of four teams in the nation that had scored 77 or more points in every game and had scored 70 or more in 25 consecutive non-conference contests. … Six of Clemson's eight games have been decided by five points or fewer and the Tigers are 3-3 in those contests. … Clemson finished with 14 turnovers, 3.9 below the average for Arkansas' opponents.
Top Game Performances
| Arkansas |
|
Clemson |
|
Michael Qualls 21 |
Scoring |
Rod Hall 19 |
|
Rashad Madden 5 |
Assists |
Damarcus Harrison 5 |
|
Bobby Portis 7 |
Rebounds |
Jaron Blossomgame 8 |
|
Michael Qualls 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Rod Hall 5 |
|
Bobby Portis 3 |
Steals |
Rod Hall 4 |
|
Alandise Harris 1 |
Blocks |
Jaron Blossomgame 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Arkansas
|
65 |
43.9 |
6-21 |
9-12 |
11 |
22 |
2 |
7 |
13 |
| Clemson
|
68 |
46.4 |
6-21 |
10-14 |
12 |
29 |
2 |
7 |
14 |
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