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Hammonds, outside shooting helps Clemson over North Carolina State

Jan 16, 2008 - 5:28 AM CLEMSON, South Carolina (Ticker) -- Clemson's long-range shooting finally gave the Tigers an easy Atlantic Coast Conference game for the first time this season.

Cliff Hammonds scored 14 points and Trevor Booker added 13 as No. 23 Clemson coasted past North Carolina State, 70-54, on Tuesday.

Freshman Terrence Oglesby chipped in 12 points on 4-of-8 3-point shooting for the Tigers, who had become the first team in ACC history to start conference play with a pair of overtime games.

Clemson (14-1, 2-1 ACC) lost its conference opener to top-ranked North Carolina on January 6 and then beat Florida State on Saturday in double overtime.

Oglesby had made six 3-pointers in Saturday's thriller, including three in the second overtime.

But the Tigers, with the help of Oglesby, left little doubt in this one, thanks to their 3-point shooting late in the first half.

Leading 14-11 with under seven minutes to play in the first, Clemson made five straight shots from the arc - including two each from Oglesby and Hammonds - to help the Tigers take a 29-17 bulge with 3:39 before halftime. Overall, Clemson shot 7-of-14 from the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

Courtney Fells made a 3-pointer to pull the Wolfpack within 32-24 at the break but that would be as close as North Carolina State would get.

Clemson started the second half on a 15-5 run to take a 47-29 lead with 12:35 left to play and took its largest lead after a 3-pointer by Booker, giving the Tigers a 59-36 advantage with 6:17 remaining.

K.C. Rivers scored 11 points for Clemson, which puts him eight shy of becoming the 16th junior in Tigers history to score 1,000 for his career.

The Tigers' leading scorer will go for the milestone on Saturday when Clemson visits No. 5 Duke.

Fells finished with 19 points to lead North Carolina State (11-5, 0-2), which has lost its first two conference games of the season for the third time in the last four years.

North Carolina State leading scorer J.J. Hickson tied a season low with just four points. The freshman was only 2-of-4 from the floor and played a season-low 15 minutes, grabbing seven rebounds.

The Wolfpack also committed a season-high 23 turnovers, which led to 29 points for the Tigers.