Dillon Hunter scored 15 points to help Clemson avoid an upset bid and win 70-63 over visiting Mercer on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers (8-3) also got 12 points from Nick Davidson, and 10 points each from Jestin Porter and Zac Foster.
Baraka Okojie led the charge for Mercer (7-3) by tallying 20 points, five assists and three rebounds. Zaire Williams chipped in 15 points for the Bears.
Clemson led by eight points early in the game, but Mercer battled back and used an 18-6 run to take a nine-point advantage late in the first half. That surge from the Bears featured eight points and two assists from Okojie.
Mercer led by five points with under 10 minutes to play, and then Clemson finally caught fire late in the second half, breaking off a 14-2 run while the Bears endured a stretch where they didn’t make a field goal for more than six minutes.
As the Tigers padded their lead and continued to pull away in the game’s waning moments, Mercer made just two of its final 13 field goal attempts.
Key for Clemson was its prowess inside, as it won the rebounding battle 36-26 and outscored Mercer 34-28 in the paint.
The Tigers’ bench also outscored the Bears’ reserves 22-6. The bench effort for Clemson was led by Foster, who punctuated the victory with a one-handed slam dunk on a fast break with about a minute to play. The 6-foot-4 freshman guard also grabbed seven rebounds.
The victory for the Tigers snaps a two-game slide and gives them some positive momentum heading into their clash on Tuesday at home with in-state rival South Carolina.
For Mercer, the result was a missed opportunity. It would have marked the Bears’ first victory over a major-conference opponent since they defeated Georgia Tech in November 2020.
