Clemson cruises past East Carolina

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Trevor Booker was his usual point-scoring, rebound-snatching self in the post for Clemson on Wednesday night -- with a little bit of pass-happy attitude thrown in for good measure.

The senior fell one assist shy of a triple-double while the Tigers bounced back from a bad 3-point shooting day over the weekend to beat East Carolina 80-63.

Booker had 13 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists for the Tigers (9-2), while Andre Young added a career-high 16 points to help Clemson beat the Pirates by double figures for a third straight season. Clemson trailed for all of 25 seconds in the first half, shot 46 percent and led by as many as 23 points.

Most everything started with the 6-7, 240-pound Booker, who was the target of frequent double teams yet continually found open teammates along the perimeter. He had set a career high of seven assists against South Carolina two games ago, then bested that with a total that ranked as a school record for a post player.

"I mean, I knew I was close (to a triple-double)," Booker said. "I knew I had a lot of rebounds and I knew my points and I knew I had a lot of assists. I just kept passing the ball. I came up one short, though."

Not that anyone was in the mood to complain for the Tigers. Booker's on-point passing helped the Tigers to 10 3-pointers just three days after an 0-for-11 shooting performance from behind the arc in an 82-53 win against Furman, with Young knocking down four 3s while Tanner Smith (14 points, 10 rebounds, six assists) and Noel Johnson each hit two.

The Furman game dropped Clemson from second to fourth in the ACC's 3-point shooting statistics, but the Tigers bounced back to hit at least eight 3s in a game for the eighth time this season. Young said those long-range shots are key to spreading a defense and opening space inside for Booker.

"It's just important we come out and keep shooting the ball," Young said. "We know we're good shooters. It's just keep shooting the ball with confidence. Don't hesitate."

The Tigers didn't get much of a test Wednesday against the Pirates (4-6), trailing only when Jamar Abrams knocked down a jumper on East Carolina's first possession for a 2-0 lead.

Smith hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to put the Tigers ahead for good, starting Clemson's 7-for-15 shooting from 3-point range that helped the Tigers take a 46-29 halftime lead. Then David Potter and Booker followed with two more 3s that pushed the lead to 52-32 with 17:08 left.

It was also a familiar theme from Clemson's last visit to Minges Coliseum two years ago. That night, the Tigers went 12-for-24 from 3-point range -- with Terrence Oglesby knocking down six -- in an 82-67 victory.

East Carolina never seriously threatened a comeback and fell to 1-62 all-time against Atlantic Coast Conference schools. The Pirates got no closer than 15 points in the final minutes.

Pirates coach Mack McCarthy sounded OK with the way his team defended Booker, just not with the way they did everything else.

"He has a great stat line but he went 5-for-13," McCarthy said. "We probably did about as well as we could do on him but he did have nine assists. We didn't rotate correctly all the time and he did have 12 rebounds, and that's why he's started every game since he's been there."

Clemson has won three straight games since blowing a 23-point second-half lead in a home loss to Illinois in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and is a little more than two weeks away from its ACC opener at No. 7 Duke.

"We're a team that has to have a defensive mindset and I thought that slipped a little bit tonight," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. "We kind of relaxed, took our foot off the throttle. In order for us to be good, we have to play hard and be in a defensive mindset at all times -- kind of a junkyard dog kind of team. But we didn't have that mentality throughout the game."

Darrius Morrow had 16 points and matched his career-high with 12 rebounds to lead East Carolina.