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Clemson has held on to secure its point guard target.

Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick guard Al-Amir Dawes announced his commitment to the Tigers during a ceremony at his school Thursday afternoon.

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Dawes (6-1, 180), ranked No. 142 nationally overall regardless of position by Rivals.com, picked Clemson over Providence, Seton Hall and St. John’s.

“I think it’s a pretty good pickup,” Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi said. “He’s definitely an ACC-caliber guard. A little brash, a little flashy at times. But tough, confident and not going to back down against anyone.

“He’s one of those guys, when he’s playing against the Dukes and Carolinas of the world, he’s going to have a chip on his shoulder because he feels he was just as good as those guys they recruited, and he wants to show them that they screwed up.”

We can tell you Seton Hall made a strong late push with Dawes, creating some anxiety in the final 24 hours before his announcement.

But Clemson fought off the charge and will pair Dawes with another Rivals150 guard, Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake’s Chase Hunter, as a 1-2 combo recruited to potentially replace the departing duo of Shelton Mitchell and Marcquise Reed down the road.

Dawes used his first official visit to Providence, then traveled to Clemson two weeks ago in conjunction with the football game against Syracuse.

He then squeezed in official visits to St. John’s and Seton Hall consecutively over this past weekend.

Clemson projects to have just one returning player with point guard experience on the 2019-20 roster – Clyde Trapp, a converted combo guard.

So lead ball-handler and potential distributor ranked atop the Tigers’ needs for this class.

“Al-Amir is someone I would definitely classify as a scoring point guard,” Bossi said. “He’s very aggressive, and while he’s not the biggest guy around, he’s a surprisingly strong finisher – not only at the rim, but also through contact. He’s one of those guys who has a knack for making things happen around the rim.

“He is a good enough jump-shooter that guys can’t just back way off of him and dare him to shoot it. He will make you pay from back there. I think he’s a guy who’s vocal and has the chance to turn into a legitimate leader at the college level as well.

"People react well around him. This summer, when he finally had the chance to play point guard full-time instead of as an undersized 2-guard, I thought he made the guys around him better. Guys who didn’t have as good a spring had much better summers when he was the point guard, and I think his play had to at least have something to do with it.”

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