Joseph Girard III nets 24 to lead Clemson past Florida State

Joseph Girard III scored a game-high 24 points to help lead Clemson to a 74-63 win over visiting Florida State Saturday.

Chase Hunter added 16 points for the Tigers (19-8, 9-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won five of its last six games. RJ Godfrey tallied 12 points for Clemson, while Jack Clark and Ian Schieffelin each grabbed 11 rebounds.

Jamir Watkins led Florida State (14-13, 8-8) with 18 points. Primo Spears scored 16 for the Seminoles, who have now lost four of their last five games. Baba Miller added 12 for Florida State.

After Clemson held a 10-point halftime lead, the Tigers extended their lead to 16 on Dillon Hunter's layup with 13:20 left.

From there, Florida State went on a 16-5 scoring run that spanned over seven minutes, which was stamped with Miller's 3-pointer that made the score Clemson 58-53 at the 6:05 mark.

A minute later, Watkins' free throws once again cut Clemson's lead to five points with 5:03 remaining. PJ Hall then responded with a three-point play on the ensuing possession, pushing the lead back to eight.

Watkins then hit a layup with 4:24 left, but Florida State wouldn't score again until the 1:06 mark, while Clemson went up 68-59.

With 40 seconds left, Watkins and Hall each picked up technical fouls due to swinging elbows on a Clemson inbounds play. Clemson then made four free throws in the final 30 seconds to cement the 11-point win.

In the first half, Clemson jumped out to a 16-9 lead on Chauncey Wiggins' mid-range jumper at the 11:40 mark.

Florida State then cut the deficit to 17-14, before Dillon Hunter free throws and Girard's triple pushed Clemson's advantage to eight points with 8:14 left in the first half.

Spears' coast-to-coast three-point play trimmed the Clemson lead to 30-26 with 3:48 remaining in the first half, but the Tigers finished the opening half on an 8-2 run, capped with Chase Hunter's buzzer-beating triple to give Clemson a 38-28 halftime lead.

Girard led Clemson's first-half scoring with nine points, while Spears paced the Seminoles with 10.

Saturday was Clemson's fourth straight win over the Seminoles.