Clemson’s rally falls short against Duke

Luke Kennard had an ugly first half, and Duke leaned on freshmen Jayson Tatum and Frank Jackson to build a double-digit lead against Clemson.

Then the Tigers rallied, and Kennard put down the uprising.

Kennard made two clutch jumpers in the final 2:04 and No. 14 Duke beat Clemson 79-72 on Wednesday to advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinals.

The fifth-seeded Blue Devils (24-8) will play fourth-seeded and No. 8 Louisville on Thursday at Barclays Center.

Kennard, the ACC’s leading scorer, went 1 for 9 from the field in the first half and 8 for 11 in the second to finish with 20 points.

“I think that’s a heck of a performance when a player – it isn’t going and then it goes – that shows you’re a different player. You’re a special player when you’re able to do that,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Tatum and Jackson each scored 20 and picked up the slack while Kennard was cold.

Jaron Blossomgame led Clemson (17-15) with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Duke built a 13-point lead midway through the second half but could not put away Clemson. Marcquise Reed converted a 3-point play with 2:51 left to cut Duke’s lead to 69-68 and get the small contingent of Tigers fans in Barclays, plus any Duke haters in the crowd, pumped up.

Kennard answered with a jumper to push the lead back to three. He dropped in a fallaway from the baseline with 1:14 left to up the lead to 75-70.

The Tigers hope to get an NIT bid.

“We won six (ACC) games. We probably needed to win eight or 10,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said about getting into the NCAAs. “That’s obviously why today’s game was so important for our team. If we could have got today’s game, then I think we have a better chance, and then maybe one more.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 1:15 AM with the headline "Clemson’s rally falls short against Duke."