CHARLOTTE — Cameron Boozer scored 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and received a boost from his twin brother Cayden Boozer and others as No. 1 Duke beat Clemson 73-61 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals Friday night.
Top-seeded Duke will have a chance to repeat as tournament champion after a strong defensive effort against fifth-seeded Clemson.
Duke (31-2) will take on 10th-ranked and second-seeded Virginia (29-4), an 84-62 winner against Miami in the first semifinal, in the Saturday night title game.
Cayden Boozer’s season-high 16 points and Nikolas Khamenia’s season-best-tying 14 points helped the injury-riddled Blue Devils maintain a double-figure lead for the final 23 minutes.
Duke is playing the tournament without starters Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II because of foot injuries. Clemson lost Carter Welling to a season-ending knee injury earlier in the week.
RJ Godfrey’s 18 points led Clemson (24-10), which shot 32.7% from the floor. Jestin Porter had 12 points and Ace Buckner added 11 points. The Tigers were trying for their third victory in as many days after beating Wake Forest on Wednesday and then nipping North Carolina 80-79 on Thursday.
Duke won despite a rough shooting night for Isaiah Evans, who was 1-for-9 from the field (0-for-7 from 3-point range) for six points just a day after pouring in 32 points vs. Florida State. Evans pulled in a career-high 10 rebounds.
Khamenia helped make up for Evans’ low-scoring effort by making three 3-pointers as he reached a double-figure point total for the first time in nearly a month.
Duke, which had starter Maliq Brown pick up his second foul less than 9 1/2 minutes into the game, led 41-22 at halftime.
The Boozer twins combined for 22 first-half points, equaling Clemson’s total. The Tigers missed their final 10 shots of the half, leaving them at 22.2%.
Duke’s lead reached 20 points in the second half, though some late offense from Clemson allowed the final margin to be tighter than when the Blue Devils beat the Tigers 67-54 at home last month.
Both teams finished with 18 made free throws, while Duke committed 11 turnovers to Clemson’s six.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
