NCAA Tournament: West Virginia 84, Clemson 76
Published 12:00 am Thursday, March 17, 2011
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. ó Clemson’s determination to overcome fatigue was no match for West Virginia’s fresh legs.
Playing its second game in just over 36 hours, the 12th-seeded Tigers built an early double-digit lead before falling 84-76 to the fifth-seeded Mountaineers in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday.
Darryl Bryant scored 19 points and Kevin Jones added 17 as West Virginia (21-11) overcame a slow start in the early afternoon matchup. The Mountaineers will play fourth-seeded Kentucky, a 59-57 winner over No. 13 seed Princeton, in the next round Saturday.
Clemson coach Brad Brownlee refused to complain about the fast turnaround his team had to make after beginning tournament in Dayton, Ohio, but he raised the issue afterward about whether such an early starting time is fair to a team in those circumstances.
“I don’t know. We certainly were ready to go early,” Brownell said. “I mean, 12:15 is less than ideal. I certainly hope they address it for the student athletes’ sake, because there is a wearing effect on the game.”
Bryant’s four-point play and a long 3-pointer by Jones that tied it 40-40 at the half highlighted a game-changing 28-8 run that enabled West Virginia to turn a 10-point deficit into a 57-47 lead. The closest Clemson (22-12) would get the rest of the way was three.
That’s when Dalton Pepper stepped up for West Virginia.
Spearheading the 1-3-1 defense the Mountaineers used to force Clemson into burning the clock while working for shots, the sophomore guard made two steals at midcourt that he turned into a dunk and layup. They allowed the Mountaineers to finish the job.
“We were mixing up defenses and we were getting in the passing lanes and stuff,” said Dalton, who finished with 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting in 17 minutes. “I don’t think they were ready for it, and we just caught them off guard and got a few steals.”
Andre Young scored 22 points for Clemson, which beat Alabama-Birmingham in the opening round of the tournament in Dayton, then boarded a plane for a middle-of-the-night flight to Florida to face a team that hadn’t played in eight days.
Demontez Stitt had 16 points and Devin Bookere and Jerai Grant added 13 each for the Tigers, who fell behind by 12 in the second half before making it interesting in the closing minutes.