Pittsburgh Panthers vs Clemson Tigers Box Score on Mar 06, 2021

Al-Amir Dawes scored a season-high 21 points as Clemson topped Pitt 77-62 Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams in Clemson, S.C.

Clemson will take a 16-6 overall record and 10-6 Atlantic Coast Conference mark into next week's ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C. The Tigers' .625 winning percentage in league play is the program's best in 11 seasons under coach Brad Brownell.

Pitt slipped to 10-11 overall and 6-10 in the conference.

Clemson capped its season with an 11-1 record at Littlejohn Coliseum, including an 8-1 mark at home against ACC opponents, with the lone defeat coming against Virginia.

The Tigers won six of their past seven games and have won eight consecutive games against Pitt.

It was Senior Day for the Tigers, who celebrated the final home game for Aamir Simms, Clyde Trapp and Jonathan Baehre, but it was sophomore Dawes who stole the show for the Tigers.

Dawes made 7-of-10 shots from the floor, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. He continued a recent hot streak that has seen him average 17 points and shoot 71 percent (12 of 17) from beyond the arc in Clemson's past three games.

Clemson shot 55.8 percent from the floor as a team, including 48 percent from 3-point range.

The Tigers started quickly, jumping out to a 16-point lead with 8:23 left in the first half before Pitt began to find the range. The Panthers pulled to within two points, 38-36, at the half despite a sub-par opening 20 minutes from leading scorer Justin Champagnie.

Champagnie, who leads the ACC in rebounding and ranks second in scoring, had only two rebounds and three points in the first half, but scored 10 points in the second to finish with 13 and give him a double-figure scoring total in every game this season. Ithiel Horton was the only other Pitt player in double figures with 11 points.

Pitt remained close early in the second half before Clemson went on a 25-9 run sparked by Dawes and Hunter Tyson that provided an 18-point cushion -- the Tigers' largest of the game -- with 6:16 remaining. The Panthers never got closer than 10 the rest of the game.

Tyson added 16 points for Clemson on 5-of-6 shooting while Simms, who was playing in his 120th career game at Clemson, had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

--Field Level Media