Clemson hadn’t beaten its in-state rival on the hardwood in nearly three years, but the Tigers’ defense made sure that drought didn’t last any longer Saturday.

In what more closely resembled a rock fight for the first 20 minutes and change, Clemson used a suffocating stretch late in the first half and well into the second to pull away from South Carolina for a 70-56 win at Littlejohn Coliseum. Hunter Tyson had 18 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-double while PJ Hall added 16 points and eight boards for the Tigers (8-4), who notched their third straight win.

“It was good for our team to win a game when we don’t shoot it (well),” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “We’ve been winning games with a lot of 3s, but today we did it with some good defense for the most part and aggressive rebounding. I just thought it was good for us to win a tough game in a tough manner.”

It was Clemson’s first over Carolina (8-3) since Dec. 22, 2018. The matchup with the rivals’ first since Carolina’s win at Littlejohn during the 2019-20 season with last year’s matchup being canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Saturday’s game was in limbo as recently as recently as Friday with COVID-19 issues again popping up in Carolina’s program. But the Gamecocks tested again Friday morning and still made the trip to Clemson late that afternoon without half of their top six scorers because of COVID-related issues and injuries. Carolina inserted three new players into the starting five.

“I feel like we embodied the next man up,” said Carolina guard Chico Carter, who paced the Gamecocks with 21 points. “We’ve got a couple of guys out right now, but we all work hard in practice and get an opportunity to show what we can do in practice and deliver it on the court.”

But both teams struggled to hit shots for most of the night.

They combined for just eight made baskets through the first 13 minutes, 40 seconds of game time before Clemson made six of its last 11 shots of the first half. Hall’s putback gave Clemson a brief 21-19 lead, and after a Carolina basket, the Tigers ripped off a 9-0 run for their largest lead of the half, taking a 30-24 advantage into the break after Carter’s 3 at the buzzer for Carolina.

But the Tigers were just getting started.

Clemson opened the second half on a 22-3 spurt, which was part of a 31-6 run beginning at the 2:57 mark of the first. The Gamecocks missed their first 11 shots coming out of the locker room, going more than 8 minutes without a basket until J’Von Benson’s putback dunk ended Carolina’s drought with 11:54 left in the game.

“Really, whenever we’re getting down on offense, just executing. And on defense, just getting stops,” Hall said. “That’s really what it comes down to. Blocking out, getting rebounds and not letting second chances (happen). All the fundamentals.”

By that point, Clemson led by 23, and the Gamecocks never got closer than 11 the rest of the way. The Tigers shot just 33.3% from the floor but raised that clip to 38% in the second half. Clemson also gave itself plenty of second and third looks with 19 offensive boards, part of a plus-16 rebounding advantage (51-35) for the Tigers.

“The point of emphasis that Coach had all week was that we can’t get out-toughed,” Tyson said. “We have to take the physicality to them because a lot of times, they’re the ones being more physical and outrebounding (teams). We didn’t want that to happen tonight, and I think that’s a big reason that we came away successful.”

Hall and Tyson combined for nine of those rebounds on the offensive end. Clemson outscored the Gamecocks 32-20 in the paint.

“They played with a physicality at the rim that we couldn’t answer,” Carolina coach Frank Martin said.

It proved to be enough given Carolina’s struggles to score. The short-handed Gamecocks shot just 32.7% from the field, including a 25% clip from 3-point range. Their leading scorer coming in, Jermaine Couisnard, finished with just five points – seven fewer than his season average — while playing 24 minutes on a bum ankle.

“He tried to be a good teammate because of the moment that we’re in right now, but I wish I could hit rewind and have told him not to play tonight,” Martin said.

With non-conference play in the books, Clemson will try to keep its winning streak going when it jumps back into ACC play Wednesday at Virginia.

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