The Clemson men’s basketball team defeated the Jacksonville Dolphins by a score of 68-39, earning their sixth win of the season, Friday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Junior Aamir Simms was the Tigers’ high scorer for the night, scoring 18 points in Clemson’s eventual win over the Dolphins.

The Tigers (6-5) came into Friday’s game after a tough loss to rival South Carolina but was able to crush their four-game losing streak with a strong first half and an even stronger finish in the second.

Clemson also welcomed backed guard Clyde Trapp, who returned to action after suffering an ACL tear on July 28. Trapp’s return sparked the Clemson offense as he came off the bench and knocked down a couple of shots and had two assists in nine minutes of action in the first half.

He also played in the second half, but his time in the first half energized a Clemson run that extend its lead to 12 points to take control of the game. Jacksonville got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Simms put on a show in the first half going 2-2 from the arch and scoring a total of 14 points for the Tigers. At the half, the Tigers led the game 37-28.

From the start, Clemson took command of the second half only allowing the Dolphins to score 11 points in the final 20 minutes and held them scoreless the last eight minutes of the game. Both Simms’ dominate first half and the command guard Curran Scott had on defense attributed to Clemson’s victory.

“I was pleased with our guys and our defense got better the longer the game went,” head coach Brad Brownell said. “Offensively, we were better in terms of taking care of the ball, moving the ball, getting a little bit of ball reversal, and attacking it on the second side, so just good for us because that’s a lot of the things we’ve been practicing and it’s good to see that come to fruition this game.”

Heading into Sunday’s game, Clemson looks to continue its trend upwards in the win column when they take on Yale at Littlejohn. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

“We knew that we needed to get a win here tonight and that defense was going to be a big part of that,” Scott said. “We focused on it throughout the week in the game plan and we just had to go out there and execute. We did a good job in the first half and we knew that we needed to come out and continue doing that in the second and that’s what we did.”