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Even as Syracuse stormed back, Clemson's K.C. Rivers kept thinking one thing: Madison Square Garden.
"The only thing on my mind was going to the Garden," Rivers said. "That's all I was thinking about, 'I'm going to go to the Garden.' "
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Rivers guaranteed that last night, getting a career-high 29 points and Clemson (24-10) advanced to the NIT semifinals with a 74-70 win over visiting Syracuse.
Rivers had been to New York before and gone past the famous arena lit up at night. He dreamed he'd one day get to play there. The past two NIT games, Clemson broke huddles with the shout "Garden."
To do it, though, he and his Tiger teammates had to withstand a Syracuse rally that cut a 17-point deficit to 69-68 in the final seconds.
Again, remembering his goal, Rivers delivered. He hit a pair of foul shots with 18.5 seconds left to extend the lead. The Orange (24-11) could not answer.
"We played with our hearts and our minds today," Rivers said. "We left everything out there."
It was the Tigers' ninth straight NIT victory at home. But this one did not come easily.
Syracuse trailed 69-68 on Demetris Nichols' tip-in with 19.8 seconds left. However, Rivers, his team's best free-throw shooter, hit both his foul shots.
Josh Wright's open three-pointer with about 10 seconds left bounced off the rim and into the arms of Tigers guard Vern Hamilton.
Hamilton followed with two foul shots to clinch the victory.
Eric Devendorf had 23 points to lead Syracuse.
In another quarterfinal:
* At Air Force, Jacob Burtschi scored 13 points, including the winning basket with 7.7 seconds left to send the Falcons (26-8) to the NIT semifinals with a 52-51 win over De Paul.
Draelon Burns, who scored 18 points and had five three-pointers for the Blue Demons (20-14), rimmed out a three from the right corner at the buzzer.
Matt McCraw also scored 13 points for the Falcons, who nearly saw their 33-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents snapped.
Next Tuesday in the semifinals, Air Force meets Clemson and Mississippe State takes on West Virginia. *
