Queens NC vs. Clemson Game Capsensus

Hall scores 27 to lead No. 18 Clemson to 109-79 rout of Queens

Fri, Dec 22, 2023
NCAAB News (AP)

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) - PJ Hall had 27 points and Joe Girard III scored 19 as No. 18 Clemson bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 109-79 victory over Queens on Friday night.

The Tigers (10-1) perfect start ended last week with a 79-77 loss at No. 23 Memphis. Hall, Girard and the rest of the team made sure they returned to the winning track in their first meeting with the Royals (6-8) of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Queens, which averages 80 points a game, stuck close enough to the Tigers much of the first half and were down just 36-27 after Bryce Cash's 3-point play with 7:25 left before halftime. That's when Clemson closed with a 33-9 run to take control and a 69-36 lead at the break.

Hall, a junior, had his highest scoring first half of his career with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Girard, the Syracuse transfer, had 16 points in the period with three 3-pointers. Both sat for much of the second half as Clemson maintained the sizeable edge.

Other news Mitchell, with double-double, leads No. 19 Texas past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 71-55 Edwards hits milestone, No. 20 James Madison stays unbeaten with 89-75 win over Morgan State Zach Edey scores 18 points, leads top-ranked Purdue past Jacksonville 100-57

RJ Godfrey had a career-best 19 points for Clemson, surpassing his mark of 12 set earlier this season in a win over Winthrop.

BJ McLaurin and AJ McKee had 18 points apiece to lead Queens, which finished with five scorers in double figures.

BIG PICTURE

Queens: The Royals are in their second season of a four-year transition to college basketball's top classification. They'll need to find a way to win on the road, having lost all six true road contests this season.

Clemson: The Tigers, who lead the ACC in the NET rankings, were expected to dominate overmatched Queens and they did. That hasn't always been the case during coach Brad Brownell's 14 seasons including last year where early losses to South Carolina and Loyola Chicago helped keep the 23-win team out of the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT

Queens goes from one ranked ACC opponent to another, playing at No. 21 Duke on Dec. 30.

Clemson takes on Radford on Dec. 29.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

"

Article Copyright © 2023 The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.