The Clemson men’s basketball team fell by a score of 54-45 to the Yale Bulldogs Sunday at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson. The game remained close for the majority of the contest, but with a few missed opportunities and some costly turnovers, the Bulldog’s pulled away for the victory.

The Tigers (6-6) snapped their four-game losing streak Friday with a dominate win against the Jacksonville Dolphins and looked to be heading in the right direction, but really struggled to find momentum early in Sunday’s contest.

“Offensively we weren’t very good today and are just having trouble scoring,” head coach Brad Brownell said. “It’s something we gotta try to figure out and help the guys as best we can. The difference in the game was Atkinson.

Both teams did not shoot the ball well from the perimeter and I thought both teams defended pretty well, but at the end of the day their inside guy had a big game for 20 points and we just couldn’t get enough things going to consistently play well on offense and that was the difference in the game.”

The Tigers forced 19 turnovers and scored a combined 22 points off those turnovers. Clemson also benefited from 23 points being scored by bench players. The Bulldogs (10-3) shot 42.6 percent from the field, though, and limited the Tigers to a shooting percentage of 31.9. Yale also won the rebounding margin 35-27 and scored 28 points in the paint.

Hunter Tyson provided the Tigers with a big lift off the bench by tallying 11 points and a career-high four steals. Tyson threw down a pair of emphatic dunks, both of which came out of the fast break. Aamir Simms added 10 points for the Tigers and pulled down seven rebounds, as well. Three different Bulldogs scored in double figures, including leading scorer Paul Atkinson, who recorded a game-high 20 points.

In the first half, Clemson scored 16-of-its-19 points in the paint and was credited with forcing nine Yale turnovers. However, the Bulldogs shot 43.5 percent from the floor and sported a 24-19 advantage at halftime. The Tigers came out firing to start the second half, manufacturing a 6-0 run that provided them with the lead. Later in the half, a 10-0 Clemson run resulted in the Tigers going up 38-36 at the 8:55 mark. Yale was able to shake off a scoreless drought that lasted over 4 1/2 minutes after that, and the Bulldogs pulled away from the Tigers down the stretch.

Clemson will next take the court on Tuesday, Dec. 31, for an ACC matchup against the Miami Hurricanes (8-3) at Littlejohn Coliseum. The New Year’s Eve battle is scheduled to tip off at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on ACC Network.