Makai Ashton-Langford had 15 points to lead four scorers in double figures as Boston College stifled No. 20 Clemson late en route to Tuesday night’s 62-54 win in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Ashton-Langford also nabbed six steals, while Jaeden Zackery added 13 points, and Prince Aligbe and Quinten Post chipped in 10 apiece for the Eagles (11-12, 5-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), who earned their second top-25 win of the season and improved to 3-1 in their last four games.
Aligbe and T.J. Bickerstaff each had seven rebounds, while Post dished out four assists.
Clemson (18-5, 10-2) missed 17 consecutive field goals in the second half before a Hunter Tyson 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining made it 58-52. The Tigers shot just 7 of 28 (25 percent) from the floor in the second half.
Tyson led all scorers with 22 points and added eight rebounds, while Chase Hunter scored 12 points and PJ Hall grabbed nine boards to go with nine points for Clemson.
Despite playing most of the last 10 minutes with Post in foul trouble, the Eagles rattled off a 5-0 run to break a 45-45 tie and never looked back. A circus layup from Bickerstaff with 5:21 left highlighted the spurt.
Ashton-Langford hit two clutch layups in the final two minutes to extend BC leads to two possessions and keep the game out of the Tigers’ reach.
Tyson sank two 3-pointers to help Clemson take a 10-2 lead before BC scored its first field goal on an Ashton-Langford jumper 5:15 in.
Hall’s deep triple and a bucket from Hunter fueled a 7-0 run that helped the Tigers extend their lead to 19-8 at the halfway mark of the first half.
The hosts started on the comeback trail from there, with Mason Madsen hitting a trey and five straight Zackery points making it 19-16. The Eagles later scored six straight points to take a 22-21 edge.
Clemson flipped the score again before BC strung together four straight baskets to end the opening half, including a Zackery turnaround jumper that sent the Eagles into the break up 30-23.
–Field Level Media
