Duke took control with a 16-4 second-half run, then fought to hold off Clemson to win 79-72 in the second round of the 2017 ACC Tournament on Wednesday.
The game was tied at 33 at the half. The fifth-seeded Blue Devils (24-8, 12-7 ACC) opened the second half hitting 12 of their first 20 shots from the field to lead by as many as 13 with 8:28 to go.
Clemson (17-15, 7-13 ACC) rallied in the final minutes, cutting the deficit to one, at 69-68, on an and-one by Marcquise Reed with 2:51 left.
A pair of jumpers by Luke Kennard, who was 8-of-11 from the field in the second half, after connecting on just 1-of-9 in the first half, were key down the stretch for Duke, which went 6-of-8 at the line in the final 1:51 to close it out.
Kennard, Jayson Tatum and Frank Jackson each scored 20 for Duke, which shot 49.2 percent from the floor (30-of-61) from the floor.
Jaron Blossomgame had 19 to lead the Tigers, who likely will see their NCAA Tournament bubble burst with the loss.
Duke will face four seed Louisville (24-7, 12-6 ACC) in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
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