Dennis Clifford hit a short tiebreaking jumper in the lane with 42 seconds left and finished with 15 points to lift Boston College to a 59-57 win over Clemson Thursday night.
Lonnie Jackson had 14 points and Clifford added seven rebounds for the Eagles.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Boston College (6-10, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Andre Young led the Tigers (9-7, 1-1) with 12 points and T.J. Sapp had 11.
Clifford grabbed the loose ball from his own bobble down low, and went up with his jumper just in front of the basket.
But he missed the front end of a one-and-one after Clemson turned the ball over on its next possession, setting up a chance for the Tigers to tie the game.
Milton Jennings was fouled, but hit just one of two. Clemson fouled and Jackson hit the second of two from the line with 8.7 seconds left, making it 59-57.
Devin Booker was fouled by Clifford on an attempted putback of Jennings' miss with 1 second left, but he missed his first free throw and the Tigers had a lane violation when he missed the second intentionally.
BC then threw a long inbounds pass to Jordan Daniels to seal it.
Clemson opened a 54-51 edge on Jennings' two free throws with 5:22 left, but Daniels nailed a 3 from the top of the key 24 seconds later.
After the teams came up empty offensively for nearly two minutes, Clifford broke free inside for a jam to push the Eagles ahead by two points with 2:58 left.
Clemson then missed three good looks - the best a tip-in attempt by Tanner Smith. But BC couldn't capitalize, and John Cahill fouled Smith trying a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 69 seconds left. He missed the first, but hit the next two free throws, tying the game at 56.
For most of the game, the teams relied mostly on their halfcourt offense and rarely ran fastbreaks. On many offensive possessions, the shot clock ran below 15 seconds before either team would start its move to the basket.
Clemson led by two at halftime and pushed it to 39-32 on Sapp's four-point play 3:29 into the second half. Sapp nailed a 3 from the right wing, was fouled by Jackson and converted the free throw.
The Eagles then started to hit their long-range shots. Anderson drove the lane for a bucket and Humphrey hit a 3 from the wing, cutting it to 39-37. After Clemson had the next two baskets, BC went on an 11-0 spree - with consecutive 3s by Jackson 45 seconds apart, keying the surge that pushed the Eagles ahead 48-43 with 10:43 remaining.
In the first half both teams started off slowly, and Clemson held a 13-12 edge nearly 10 minutes into the game. The lead then switched hands three times until Young's 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left gave the Tigers a 28-26 lead at intermission.
The young Eagles have been struggling to gain attention from the fans this season and it showed in the stands. There were only a couple hundred people in the seats about 10 minutes before tip-off.
