North Carolina nips Duke in rivalry game
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. » Joel Berry II scored 21 points and No. 21 North Carolina rallied from 12 down in the first half to beat No. 9 Duke 82-78 in Thursday’s renewal of the fierce rivalry.
Kenny Williams made six 3-pointers and matched his career high with 20 points for the Tar Heels (18-7, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who roared out of halftime with a 16-2 run that erased what was left of Duke’s early lead.
Cameron Johnson added 18 points and 13 rebounds, helping the Tar Heels overcome the Blue Devils’ significant size advantage to own the glass (28-17) after halftime.
North Carolina led by as many as 10 and saw Duke get to within 74-71 late, but the Tar Heels did just enough to hang on. Theo Pinson punctuated the win with a dunk off the press break with 11.1 seconds left to seal it.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 16 points to lead the Blue Devils (19-5, 7-4), who have lost two straight. CLEMSON 72, PITTSBURGH 48 » Gabe DeVoe matched his career high with 25 points, helping No. 16 Clemson (204, 9-3 ACC) beat Pittsburgh (8-17, 0-12).
DeVoe was 7 for 11 from 3-point range. Shelton Mitchell made three 3s on his way to 12 points, and Elijah Thomas had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers.
Clemson led 32-22 at halftime and then put Pitt away with an impressive stretch on offense. The Tigers scored on nine of their first 10 second-half possessions.
Mitchell hit back-to-back 3s to make it 56-28 with 14:21 left. Clemson shot 12 for 27 from beyond the arc.
Terrell Brown led Pitt with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting. No other Panther made more than two shots.
Pitt shot 39.1 percent (18 for 46) from the field. It also committed 15 turnovers.