CLEMSON BASKETBALL

No. 22 Clemson opens season with 100-80 victory over Citadel

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CLEMSON - Marcquise Reed had 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds as No. 22 Clemson beat The Citadel 100-80 and reached 100 points for the first time in nine years Tuesday night.

The Tigers (1-0) last hit the century mark in a 102-66 win over Winthrop in November 2009. They reached triple digits for the first time in coach Brad Brownell's nine seasons on the way to their 34th straight season-opening win.

Reed led six Tigers in double figures and posted his fourth career double-double. Shelton Mitchell and Aamir Simms scored 16 points each, Elijah Thomas had 15, Clyde Trapp 13 and David Skara 11.

The Citadel didn't make things easy on the Tigers down the stretch. The Bulldogs cut an 18-point second-half deficit to 80-71 on Lew Stallworth's layup with 6:38 remaining. But Mitchell followed with a 3-pointer and two foul shots to restore the Tigers' double-digit lead.

The Citadel could not respond and fell to 0-52 all-time against ranked opponents.

Clemson is coming off its strongest season of Brownell's tenure, winning 25 games with a program-record 11 Atlantic Coast Conference victories. The Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 for the first time in 21 years last season, and they revealed a banner in the rafters of Littlejohn Coliseum commemorating the achievement.

Stallworth had 15 points to lead the Bulldogs. Matt Frierson had 12 points off four of the team's 10 3-pointers.

The Citadel made 12 3-pointers per game last season to rank second nationally.

The Citadel hit five of its seven first-half 3-pointers in the first nine minutes and led the Tigers 24-21. Clemson closed the period on a 28-16 run to lead 49-40 at the break.

BIG PICTURE

The Citadel: The Bulldogs will get a heavy dose of the road to start the season. Three of their next five games after this are away from home, including games at Texas, James Madison and South Florida.

Clemson: The Tigers should have several more warmups its next few games. Clemson might not face a Power Five team for at least two weeks when it heads to the Cayman Islands Classic and could play Georgia in the second round.

UP NEXT

The Citadel starts its home season against Mid-Atlantic Christian on Monday night.

Clemson plays its second straight home game with it faces North Carolina Central on Friday night.

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