Clemson holds off Temple to win inaugural event

Classic Victory

Clemson put on a dazzling display of 3-point shooting in the first half Sunday against Temple, but in the end, it was defense that enabled the Tigers to take home the Charleston Classic championship trophy after a 76-72 victory at the Carolina First Center.

"I'm very pleased with winning the tournament here," said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell. "It's always nice when you can go home with the hardware. Temple is an excellent ball club. I thought our pressure and our depth kind of wore them down some and we were able to get a working margin. It was our defense and our rebounding that told the story."

Clemson (3-0) led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but Temple rallied to cut the lead to 70-68 on Lavoy Allen's 3-pointer with 2:40 left.

The Owls forced consecutive turnovers by the Tigers but missed two difficult shots in transition — one by Ryan Brooks, the other by Dionte Christmas — thanks to the Tigers' quick recovery in getting back on defense.

On Clemson's next possession, Terrence Oglesby drew a foul and converted both free throws with 58 seconds to play.

Another basket by Allen once again cut the lead to two with 38 seconds to play, but the Tigers were able to close out the game at the free-throw line.

"You can talk about pressure defense, our transition defense and our halfcourt defense to Christmas," Purnell said. "Offensively, we weren't inept but we weren't in sync. If the defense is not there, they are converting those transition baskets and it's a four- or five-point swing. It bailed us out, no doubt about it."

Temple coach Fran Dunphy saw it slightly differently.

"I was pleased with our heart to step up and not pack it in," Dunphy said. "We made some big shots to get ourselves back in the game. We made a couple foolish mistakes down the stretch. We cut it to two and then we had two plays in transition that we kind of forced. There was no need to. I think that same enthusiasm and energy was the reason we got back in the game but also was the reason we just couldn't be poised at the end and finish the comeback."

Clemson held Christmas to 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field.

Christmas had scored 26 points in each of the Owls' first two games.

"They played good defense on me," said Christmas, who scored all 14 of his points in the second half. "They didn't overplay me and they paid attention to every detail. On fast breaks, I wasn't open, but my teammates did a good job of finding the open man."

Oglesby led the Tigers with 16 points, while Trevor Booker had 15 points and 16 rebounds. Clemson outrebounded Temple, 41-26.

Brooks led Temple with 19 points.

"Rebounding is always an emphasis with us," Booker said. "Temple is a good team, but we were able to get after them on the boards."

Clemson led 45-39 at the half after shooting 64 percent from the field, including 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) from 3-point range.

Temple got off to a great start, jumping out to an 18-10 lead in the first 4:33.

Then Clemson got hot.

The Tigers went on a 15-0 run over the next five minutes to take the lead.

"Even though we made 3-pointers in the first half, we weren't pretty offensively," Purnell said. "We turned it over far too much. Our shot selection wasn't great. Those types of things are to be expected early in the season. I think Temple would probably say the same thing about their offense. But our defense came alive there for us after the first five or six minutes and never let up. I thought our pressure made it difficult for them to have legs and make shots at the end of the game."

Reach Charles Bennett at cbennett@postandcourier.com

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