| No. 1 Duke Holds Off Tigers | Tweet |
| by Dan Scott -- Correspondent - Saturday, February 2, 2002 10:36 PM |
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CLEMSON - Any thought that Larry Shyatt had lost control of his Clemson
Tigers was dispelled Saturday night, despite a 98-88 loss to No. 1 Duke.
One game after saying internal problems were to blame for his team's
lackluster performance in an 18-point loss to North Carolina, the Tigers took
every haymaker the Blue Devils (20-1, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) threw
and kept the outcome in doubt until the game's final minutes.
Clemson (11-11, 2-7) rode the hot hand of Tony Stockman to fight back from an
11-point halftime deficit. Stockman hit three 3-pointers from the top of the
key to spark a 19-6 run midway throught the half. When Tomas Nagys scored
inside to complete the run, the Tigers had a 66-65 lead with 11:23 to go.
Duke immediately reclaimed the lead on a Jason Williams layup at 11:05, and
the Blue Devils maintained control from there. It wasn't easy, though, as
Clemson refused to roll over. When Hobbs hit a pair of free throws at 5:24,
the Tigers trailed just 77-76 and Littlejohn Coliseum was rocking.
But Duke responded with a 13-2 run over the next 3:36 to push the lead back
to 12, 90-78, with 1:41 to go.
Clemson never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Duke used a familiar weapon to take control of the first half, blitzing
Clemson with a barrage of 3-pointers to lead by as many as 15.
At one point the Blue Devils dropped in five consecutive 3s (Williams three,
Dunleavy and Ewing one each) during a 26-13 run that turned an 18-18 tie into
a 46-31 lead with 2:32 left in the half. Most of the damage came in
transition, with Williams or Dunleavy floating to the wing on the fast break,
taking a kickout pass and knocking down the open shots.
Duke was 9-of-20 from behind the arc in the half. Williams was 4-of-9.
The Tigers ultimately pulled within 50-39 by halftime, thanks to a four-point
burst in the final 1.2 seconds of the half. Hobbs rebounded a Sharrod Ford
miss - Ford was attempting to convert a three-point play - and scored just
ahead of the buzzer to bring Clemson within 11.
BOX SCORE
FINAL 1st 2nd Total
(1) Duke (20-1; ACC: 8-1) 50 48 98
Clemson (11-11; ACC: 2-7) 39 49 88
Duke
PLAYER MIN FGM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST PF PTS
D. Jones 32 5-11 5-6 3 4 1 2 16
M. Dunleavy 38 8-14 4-5 1 7 3 4 22
C. Boozer 29 3-8 6-8 4 6 0 3 12
J. Williams 39 9-19 5-6 0 6 7 2 28
C. Duhon 38 4-7 5-6 0 4 6 3 15
N. Horvath 6 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 1 0
D. Ewing 11 1-2 2-2 0 1 0 1 5
C. Sanders 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 4 0
Totals 200 30-61 27-33 8 30 17 20 98
.492 .818
TEAM REBS: 5
TURNOVERS: 14 (Duhon 5, Boozer 3, Sanders 2, Williams 2, Dunleavy, Jones)
BLOCKED SHOTS: 3 (Sanders 2, Dunleavy)
STEALS: 11 (Dunleavy 3, Williams 3, Duhon 2, Ewing 2, Boozer)
3-PT FGS: 11-28, .393 (Jones 1-3, Dunleavy 2-5, Williams 5-14, Duhon 2-5, Ewing 1-1)
Clemson
PLAYER MIN FGM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST PF PTS
C. Hobbs 26 3-5 6-6 3 8 0 5 12
J. McKnight 29 4-10 2-2 1 5 1 2 11
R. Henderson 20 3-7 3-3 2 5 0 5 9
E. Scott 40 10-18 0-1 0 5 8 3 20
T. Stockman 31 7-15 1-2 0 3 2 2 20
T. Nagys 15 2-3 0-0 1 5 1 4 4
S. Ford 18 4-6 2-3 2 3 0 3 10
C. Christie 13 1-5 0-0 1 2 3 0 2
D. Clifton 8 0-1 0-0 2 2 0 0 0
Totals 200 34-70 14-17 12 38 15 24 88
.486 .824
TEAM REBS: 1
TURNOVERS: 20 (Mcknight 5, Christie 4, Stockman 4, Scott 3, Hobbs 2,
R Henderson 2)
BLOCKED SHOTS: 2 (Ford, Christie)
STEALS: 8 (Scott 3, Christie 2, Mcknight, R Henderson, Stockman)
3-PT FGS: 6-17, .353 (Mcknight 1-3, Scott 0-2, Stockman 5-11, Christie 0-1)
Technicals: None
Attendance: 11,000
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