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Oglesby, Rivers lead Clemson past Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Dec 21, 2007 - 1:25 AM SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Ticker) -- Terrence Oglesby had a strong first half, then K.C. Rivers took over from there.

Oglesby scored 21 points as No. 15 Clemson posted a 90-73 victory over Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the opening round of the San Juan Shootout on Thursday.

Rivers scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half and Raymond Sykes and Trevor Booker each scored 11 for Clemson (9-0), which had been idle for over two weeks due to final exams.

Oglesby scored 14 first-half points for the Tigers, who won this tournament in 2005.

"It was kind of natural that we would have trouble finding our sea legs until the second half," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said.

In the second half, Rivers, whose 15.9 points led the team entering this game, shot 7-of-8 from the field to make the game a blowout. The 6-5 junior, who also hauled in 11 rebounds, nailed the second of his two consecutive 3-pointers to push the Tigers' lead to 76-51 with 9:52 remaining.

"We decided to establish ourselves in the second half and try to put the game away," Rivers said. "We had a sense that if we didn't come out with a hard edge, they were going to come out pretty hard."

Clemson shot 47 percent (33-of-71) from the field.

Luis Ramirez scored 21 points for the Bulldogs (1-10), who shot 44 percent (25-of-57), and suffered their second straight defeat in this tourney after losing, 117-86, to La Salle on Wednesday.

"I am really surprised that we were able to fight with them for as long as we did," Puerto Rico-Mayaguez coach Fernando Toro said.