Northwestern
Clemson
Men's Basketball Falls To Clemson, 57-44
11/28/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2000
By PETE IACOBELLI
AP Sports Writer
CLEMSON, S.C. -- Will Solomon scored 12 points and returned from a bad-looking ankle injury to steady Clemson down the stretch in a 57-44 victory over Northwestern in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday night.
With the Tigers (3-1) ahead, 42-32, Solomon wrenched his left ankle trying to stop a drive to the basket. He rolled in pain on the sidelines and spent the next nine minutes receiving ice and therapy.
But with 5:34 to go -- and with the Wildcats (2-2) on a 7-1 run to cut the Tigers' lead to 48-43 -- Solomon went back in and quickly hit a basket to make it 50-43 with 4:52 left. Northwestern answered with a foul shot by Tavaras Hardy with 4:02 left, and then the teams went without points for the next 1:09. that was when Solomon fed Chris Hobbs for a dunk that made Clemson's lead 52-44.
On Northwestern's next possession, Solomon dove to the floor to force a turnover, and a conventional three-point play by Hobbs with 2:07 to go put the game away.
Adam Allenspach had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers.
Northwestern, coached by former Princeton mentor Bill Carmody, hadn't allowed more than 53 points in a game this season. It hoped for the same thing at Littlejohn Coliseum. But Clemson's depth and size made it a difficult job.
Hobbs, a freshman, scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and had six rebounds. Reserve Dustin Braddick had 7 points and eight rebounds in the first half as Clemson turned a 7-point deficit into a 36-29 lead at the break.
Besides Allenspach, Braddick and Hobbs had 10 rebounds apiece. The Tigers outrebounded Northwestern 43-28.
Winston Blake, Northwestern's leading scorer at 14 points a game coming in, was 0-for-4.
Ben Johnson led the Wildcats with 14 points, but no one else scored more than 7 points.
Northwestern shot just 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) in the second half but stayed in the game until the closing minutes.
