Devils punish Tigers 74-53

DURHAM --

Clemson made a serious bid last night at staging a comeback for the ages, but Duke fought it off in a matter of minutes to win its ACC opener.

Duke captured a 74-53 decision at Cameron Indoor Stadium by pulling away in the second half. Clemson cut Duke's 30-12 halftime lead to 30-23 in the first 2:36 of the second half, but got no closer once Duke gathered its wits.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke called a timeout after a basket by Trevor Booker of Clemson cut the lead to eight points. Booker was fouled and made the free throw after the timeout, but Duke reaffirmed control by going on a 12-2 run.

Duke's old reliable, Jon Scheyer, keyed the run with his scoring and smart play. He drove into the lane to hit a four-footer for Duke's first basket of the half, and two possessions later drilled a 3-pointer from the left, taking a pass from Nolan Smith after Duke had beaten Clemson's press.

Scheyer nailed another 3-pointer two minutes later, this one from the right baseline after he stole an inbounds pass, to build the lead to 42-25. The inbounds pass came after a basket by Mason Plumlee gave Duke a 39-25 lead. Coach Oliver Purnell of Clemson had to call a timeout to settle down his shaken team.

Krzyzewski was so excited by Scheyer's play and the response of his team to Clemson's threat that he was out on the floor in front of the team bench, jumping and pumping his fist.

"Those artificial hips have springs in them," Krzyzewski said. "It was such a big play. I call it a Bird play (for Larry Bird, a former NBA star), where you get it and you punish somebody right away.

"It was like a five-point play. We had just got two and then hit a 3. It was 10-0 at the start of the second half. When you get five points like that, you'd be very excited, too."

Clemson could not cut the lead under 11 points in the final 13:52. Duke carried a 64-47 advantage into the final 3:48 and its two-game losing streak to Clemson was over.

"I feel like if this was a couple of years ago, the end of the game would have really been close," forward Lance Thomas of Duke said. "We've been playing with each other for a while. We knew what to do in that situation."

Duke (12-1, 1-0) honored its 1960 ACC championship team, the first in school history, at halftime.

Scheyer and Smith scored 22 points each for Duke and combined for nine assists, six by Scheyer. Kyle Singler added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Demontez Stitt led Clemson (12-3, 0-1) with 17 points. Booker, Clemson's bullish center, was held to 10 points and five rebounds, both under his season's averages. Thomas defended him for much of the game, but had help from Duke's other big men.

Duke's halftime lead was forged after 14 tough minutes of play for both teams. Clemson's 12 points were its lowest in a half under Purnell in 209 games in seven seasons.

Its 16.7 percent shooting from the field in the half, in which it made five of 30 attempts and missed all nine of its 3-point shots, was a low for a half under Purnell also.

bcole@wsjournal.com.

CLEM. Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Potter 19 1-3 1-2 1-2 0 4 4

TBooker 36 4-11 2-3 1-5 3 1 10

Grant 24 3-4 5-7 1-3 0 5 11

Stitt 32 4-10 8-9 1-4 2 3 17

Smith 27 1-8 2-3 2-4 1 3 4

Johnson 17 2-5 0-0 0-1 0 2 5

Baciu 1 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Young 21 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 4 0

Narcisse 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Jennings 6 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

DBooker 13 1-3 0-0 0-2 0 2 2

Hill 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 200 16-49 18-24 10-29 7 24 53

Percentages: FG .327, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 3-16, .188 (Stitt 1-3, Potter 1-3, Johnson 1-4, Young 0-1, T.Booker 0-2, Smith 0-3). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 3 (Grant 2, T.Booker). Turnovers: 17 (Stitt 3, Jennings 3, D.Booker 3, Grant 2, T.Booker 2, Johnson, Smith, Potter). Steals: 8 (Grant 3, Johnson, D.Booker, Jennings, T.Booker, Young). Technical Fouls: None.

DUKE Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Singler 40 6-12 3-4 3-8 1 2 16

MiPlmlee 20 2-2 3-3 1-5 0 4 7

Thomas 29 2-4 0-0 0-4 0 2 4

Smith 38 7-11 6-8 0-1 3 2 22

Scheyer 38 6-13 7-8 0-2 6 1 22

MaPlmlee 11 1-4 1-2 2-5 1 2 3

Dawkins 5 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 0

Kelly 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Zoubek 18 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 5 0

Totals 200 24-48 20-25 6-33 12 19 74

Percentages: FG .500, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 6-18, .333 (Scheyer 3-8, Smith 2-5, Singler 1-4, Dawkins 0-1). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 3 (Singler 2, Ma.Plumlee). Turnovers: 15 (Scheyer 3, Smith 3, Singler 3, Ma.Plumlee 2, Thomas 2, Dawkins, Mi.Plumlee). Steals: 6 (Scheyer 3, Singler, Smith, Zoubek). Technical Fouls: None.