Carter Welling sank back-to-back 3-point shots down the stretch as part of a personal scoring surge as Clemson stormed back from an 11-point deficit to defeat West Virginia 70-67 on Friday night in the Charleston Classic’s Palmetto Bracket at Charleston, S.C.
RJ Godfrey and Jestin Porter led the Tigers with 14 points apiece and Dillion Hunter and Welling each recorded 13 points. All of Welling’s points occurred in the final 3:11 of the game.
Clemson (5-1) meets the Xavier/Texas winner in the final Sunday afternoon, while West Virginia (5-1) faces the loser of Friday night’s late game.
Honor Huff’s 17 points and Chance Moore’s 16 paced West Virginia, while Jasper Floyd added 14 points. The Mountaineers couldn’t overcome 40.4% shooting from the field.
The Mountaineers relied heavily on perimeter shooting and didn’t have other answers in the final minutes. At one point, nine of their 20 made field goals were 3-pointers.
West Virginia still looked in good shape when Floyd drained a trey for a 59-50 lead with less than seven minutes to go.
Trailing 63-58 and 3:11 remaining, Welling popped in back-to-back treys as the Tigers surged to a 64-63 edge.
After a Mountaineer miss, Welling added the next basket from the lane with 1:22 left to give his team a 66-63 advantage.
Moore made a layup and Welling converted one of two free throws, but missed on the front end of a one-and-one to give the Mountaineers a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 30 seconds. But Floyd’s 3-point effort with 12 seconds left was off the mark and Clemson’s Jake Wahlin made one of two free throws with seven seconds remaining.
Trailing by three, West Virginia’s Brenan Lorient went for and converted a dunk with one second left. Welling was fouled and made two free throws on the inbounds play and WVU could not get a game-tying shot off at the buzzer.
West Virginia, which led 32-25 at halftime, had one basket from the field in the last 4:44 of the game.
Both teams attempted 19 free throws with Clemson converting 15 and West Virginia cashing in on only 12.
