NCAA College Basketball Box Scores

National Basketball Association

BOXSCORE | RECAP

Xavier 83, Clemson 77

When: 1:30 PM ET, Friday, November 18, 2016
Where: HP Field House, Kissimmee, Florida
Officials:
Attendance: N/A

By The Sports Xchange

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It seemed like Xavier's J.P. Macura was playing a game of H-O-R-S-E, and winning time and time again.

Regardless of his launch point, Macura seldom missed Friday afternoon, scoring a career-high 28 points as No. 11 Xavier held off Clemson 83-77 in the semifinals of the Tire Pros Invitational at HP Field House.

"Macura was unbelievable," Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. "He just kept backing up on us."

Xavier improved to 4-0 and advanced to the tournament's championship game on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET against the winner of the Oklahoma-Northern Iowa game.

Clemson (2-1) will play the loser of the Oklahoma-Northern Iowa game in the third-place game Sunday at 5 p.m.

Macura, a junior guard, couldn't be stopped in the first half, scoring 23 points -- three more than his previous career high -- on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.

His previous career best was 20 points against Marquette last February.

"His teammates really wanted to find him," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "He has that ability. Every guy on the team has got to know that when their shot doesn't go in a couple of times, then it's not shoot until you get hot. If you're hot the way he was, it's nice to know that people are looking for him in transition. And we ran a few plays for him to get him open."

Macura finished by making 10 of 18 shots, including 6 of 11 from beyond the arc. Fellow junior guard Trevon Bluiett added 21 points while sophomore guard Edmond Sumner had 11 and junior forward Sean O'Mara 10.

"Credit Xavier for shooting the ball so well," Brownell said. "They hadn't shot the ball well all year; they must have been saving them up."

Clemson was led by junior forward Donte Grantham, who had 21 points, one shy of his career high. Guard Gabe DeVoe scored 16 points, forward Jaron Blossomgame 13, guard Avry Holmes 12 and center Sidy Djitte 11 for the Tigers.

Clemson led 10-7 four minutes in, but then went scoreless for 5:20 as the Musketeers went on a 12-0 run to take command. Clemson never led again and Xavier led by as many as 12 before settling for a 41-32 advantage at halftime.

Xavier maintained a double-digit lead for much of the second half before an 8-0 Clemson run pulled the Tigers within 63-60 on a put-back by Djitte with 7:10 remaining. But the Musketeers scored six straight points and Clemson was unable to draw closer than five points down the stretch.

"It was a battle and they gave us a punch with about seven minutes to go and I was happy with the way our guys responded," Mack said. "We played much better than we did against Missouri to close out the game."

Xavier, which survived an 83-82 overtime thriller against Missouri in the tournament's first round on Thursday, overcame a season-high 18 turnovers against Clemson by shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from three-point range.

"There were three times in the game when it felt like it could get away from us, but our guys didn't buckle," said Brownell, whose team was picked for an 11th-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference. "I'm really proud of the way our guys competed. Both teams were amped up."

NOTES: Clemson G Gabe DeVoe, who scored 16 points, has tallied in double figures in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. ...F Donte Grantham notched his 100th career 3-point field goal with 17 minutes left in the first half. ...Xavier junior G Trevon Bluiett is only 18 points shy of becoming the 52nd member of Xavier's 1,000-point club. ...Bluiett and G Edmond Sumner are both on the watch lists for the Wooden Award, Naismith Award and Lute Olson Award.

Top Game Performances

Clemson		Xavier
Donte Grantham 21	Scoring	J.P. Macura 28
Gabe DeVoe 5	Assists	Edmond Sumner 6
Gabe DeVoe 8	Rebounds	Malcolm Bernard 7
Donte Grantham 4	Free Throws Made	Trevon Bluiett 7
Donte Grantham 4	Steals	J.P. Macura 3
Donte Grantham 1	Blocks	Edmond Sumner 2

Team Stats Summary

Team	Points	FG%	3PM-3PA	FTM-FTA	Assists	Rebounds	Blocks	Steals	Turnovers
Clemson	77	42.4	9-27	18-26	19	26	1	10	12
Xavier	83	52.6	9-21	14-19	17	32	4	8	18