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Clemson stuns Duke

Clemson's Sam Perry dunks during the first half of the game against Duke on Saturday. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review
Clemson's Sam Perry dunks during the first half of the game against Duke on Saturday. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Trevor Booker scored 18 points, Cliff Hammonds added 17 and Clemson, the perennial pushover in the Atlantic Coast Conference, stunned No. 7 Duke 78-74 on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C., to reach the tournament title game for the first time in 46 years.

The third-seeded Tigers (24-8), who had lost 22 straight games to the Blue Devils (27-5), pulled away in the second half to spoil a much more familiar North Carolina-Duke rematch in the championship. Instead Clemson, which has never won the ACC title, will get a shot at the top-ranked Tar Heels today.

Rugged James Mays, who scored 16 points, had two three-point plays in an 11-4 run that snapped a 56-all tie.

Second-seeded Duke cut the lead to 71-69 on Greg Paulus’ 3-pointer with 48 seconds left. But then Clemson, a 63 percent free-throw shooting team, made 3 of 4 from the line.

Kyle Singler, the ACC rookie of the year, had his second straight poor game, finishing with two points on 1-of-9 shooting for the Blue Devils.

(1) North Carolina 68, Virginia Tech 66: At Charlotte, N.C., Tyler Hansbrough hit a fadeaway jumper off an offensive rebound with 0.8 seconds left to help the Tar Heels (31-2) beat the Hokies (19-13) in the ACC tournament semifinals.

(2) Memphis 77, Tulsa 51: At Memphis, Tenn., Antonio Anderson scored 19 points and the Tigers (33-1) added a third straight Conference USA tournament championship by beating the Golden Hurricane (20-13).

Arkansas 92, (4) Tennessee 91: At Atlanta, Steven Hill hit a turnaround jumper with 5.3 seconds remaining for his only points of the game and the Razorbacks (22-10) knocked off the Volunteers (29-4) in the semifinals of the SEC tournament.

(5) Kansas 77, Texas A&M 71: At Kansas City, Mo., Brandon Rush scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Jayhawks (30-3) past the Aggies (24-10) and into the Big 12 tournament title game.

(6) Texas 77, Oklahoma 49: At Kansas City, Mo., A.J. Abrams broke out of a shooting slump with seven 3-pointers and 24 points, helping the Longhorns (28-5) defeat the Sooners (22-11) and reach the Big 12 tournament final.

(8) Wisconsin 65, (19) Michigan State 63: At Indianapolis, Brian Butch scored 19 and Marcus Landry added 18 as the Badgers (28-4) beat the Spartans (25-8) to win a Big Ten tournament semifinal game.

Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel led all scorers with 26.

•Shaun Pruitt scored 16 points to lead Illinois (16-18) to a victory over Minnesota (20-13) in the other semifinal game at Indianapolis.

Pittsburgh 74, (9) Georgetown 65: At New York, Ronald Ramon scored 17 points and the Panthers (26-9) defeated the Hoyas (27-5) in the Big East Conference championship game.

Roy Hibbert had 17 points for Georgetown, which was trying to sweep the regular-season and tournament titles for a second straight season.

UNLV 76, (24) BYU 61: At Las Vegas, Wink Adams scored 23 points to lead the Runnin’ Rebels (26-7) past the Cougars (27-7) in the Mountain West Conference championship game.