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Rivers, Booker lead Clemson to second round of NIT

Mar 15, 2007 - 3:35 AM CLEMSON, South Carolina (Ticker) -- K.C. Rivers and Trevor Booker came up big on the boards to lead Clemson to a 64-57 victory over East Tennessee State in a National Invitation Tournament first-round game.

Rivers scored 17 points and had 14 rebounds and Booker had 11 points and 11 boards for Clemson, which is the No. 1 seed in the South Region.

Thanks to Rivers and Booker, the Tigers (22-10) had a 51-32 edge on the boards and scored 15 second-chance points to seven for the Bucs (24-10), who won the regular-season championship in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Courtney Pigram, the Atlantic Sun Conference's Player of the Year, scored 25 points and was the only Buc in double figures.

Booker scored six points in a 9-2 run that gave Clemson a 57-51 lead with just over four minutes left. East Tennessee never got closer than four the rest of the way.

Clemson has now won seven consecutive NIT home games dating to a 1982 home loss to Mississippi. The Tigers will get a chance to avenge that loss as they host the Rebels in a second-round game on Monday.