Clemson’s Dillon Hunter netted a career-high 17 points as the surging Tigers breezed to a 72-46 Atlantic Coast Conference rout of the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday afternoon in Tallahassee, Fla.
The sixth-leading scorer for No. 23 Clemson (21-5, 13-2 ACC) at 5.6 points per game, Hunter made 7 of 11 shots, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range, for his fifth double-digit performance this season.
Ian Schieffelin produced 14 points and 12 rebounds to notch his 10th double-double for the Tigers, who won for the ninth time in the past 10 contests and moved to 6-1 on the road in ACC play.
Chauncey Wiggins had 11 points and eight boards, while Viktor Lakhin notched nine points and eight rebounds for Clemson. Tigers top scorer Chase Hunter (17.6 ppg) tallied just three points but had four of the team’s 10 steals.
Jamir Watkins had 14 points and matched Taylor Bol Bowen’s team-leading seven rebounds for Florida State (15-10, 6-8). DaQuan Davis added nine points and Malique Ewin paired six points with six boards.
Following consecutive wins over then-No. 2 Duke and North Carolina to close within a game of the first-place Blue Devils, the Tigers came out strong again Saturday.
Clemson started 10-of-19 from the floor and used seven points from Schieffelin to build a 22-7 lead at the 10:30 mark of the first half. Dillon Hunter extended the lead to 18 by draining two 3-pointers in 12 seconds, the second coming off Schieffelin’s backcourt steal.
The visitors took a 20-point lead with 31 seconds left in the half, but the Seminoles’ Justin Thomas canned a corner trey at the end to leave it 36-19 at the break.
The Tigers shot 50 percent in the first half and got 12 points from Dillon Hunter. Florida State made just 32 percent overall and missed 7 of its 9 3-point attempts in the opening period.
Not much changed after halftime. The Seminoles never drew closer than 15 points and trailed by as many as 27 en route to their first loss in three games.
–Field Level Media
