Chase Hunter scored 21 points, Jaeden Zackery added 11 points and No. 10 Clemson battled back to beat SMU 57-54 on Thursday night for its ninth straight win to reach the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals.

In doing so, the Tigers narrowly avoided going one and done in back-to-back ACC Tournaments after getting routed by Boston College in their opener last year. They also kept their chances of a league title and a top 4 NCAA Tournament seed alive.

Third-seeded Clemson took a shaky first step in pursuit of its first Atlantic Coast Conference title as Chase Hunter scored 21 points in a 57-54 quarterfinal victory over sixth-seeded SMU on Thursday in Charlotte,

The sixth-seeded SMU Mustangs (23-10) fought to the finish against three-seed Clemson (27-5), the No. 10 team in the nation, but ultimately fell 57-54, ending their run in this year’s ACC tournament.

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Chase Hunter scored 15 of Clemson's 29 second-half points to help the Tigers survive SMU in the ACC tournament. Here's how the star guard did it.

Social media reaction to Brad Brownell and the Clemson Tigers scraping by SMU in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

In a game where both teams struggled to shoot the ball, third-seeded Clemson held off sixth-seeded SMU 57-54 in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Thursday night inside of the

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Chase Hunter carried the Clemson Tigers on his back in a second-half comeback against SMU in the ACC Tournament Thursday night in Charlotte.