Boozer Bros Dominate as Duke Rolls

The second game in the 2026 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament Semifinal Round featured the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils (30-2 overall, 17-1 ACC) versus the 5th-seeded Clemson Tigers (24-9 overall, 12-6 ACC).

Duke and Clemson ironically both advanced out of the ACC Quarterfinals by the exact same score, 80-79, with the Blue Devils defeating the 8th-seeded Florida State Seminoles and the Tigers ousting the 4th-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels.

Senior guard Butta Johnson went 2-for-3 at the line right before the 10:30 mark to give Clemson a 16-15 lead.

With 9:28 remaining, there were seven lead changes and four ties between the two squads in the "Battle of the Carolinas".

Following freshman guard Cayden Boozer's old-fashioned three-point play, Duke would have their largest lead of the game to this point, and first double-digit advantage, ahead 29-18 with 4:25 left on the first-half game clock.

A three by freshman guard/forward Nikolas Khamenia with 10 seconds remaining gave the Blue Devils a larger body of water between them and the Tigers, with Duke ahead by 19, 41-22.

Blue Devils' freshman guard/forward Dame Sarr would pick up his second and third fouls within the first three minutes of the second half, the first being a technical foul. The Tigers would capitalize, making three of the four freebies to make it 43-27 Blue Devils.

Duke continued to show their offensive prowess in the second half, getting ahead by 20, 52-32, with over 12 minutes remaining.

Clemson pulled with 12, 58-46, by the 8:13 mark, but Duke responded with a deep two in the left corner by Sarr to prevent a momentum shift, ahead 60-46 with 7:48 on the game clock.

With under a minute to play, the Tigers cut their deficit to 12, down 71-59, after a layup by Johnson.

Graduate guard Jestin Porter would grab an offensive rebound the next time Clemson went down the floor and his layup that followed would make it 71-61 Duke with 38.8 seconds on the clock.

Brown would score the final points of the night, on an offensive rebound and putback at the rim with 10 seconds remaining, to close out the contest for the Blue Devils with a 73-61 victory.

Duke will make up the other half of the ACC Tournament Finale, facing the 2nd-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (29-4 overall, 15-3 ACC) on Saturday, March 14th, at 8:30pmET on ESPN.

The Boozer Bros would account for 40 of Duke's 73 points, with freshman forward Cameron Boozer amounting 24 points and 14 rebounds and freshman guard Cayden Boozer recording 16 points.

Senior forward RJ Godfrey led the way for Clemson with 18 points accumulated on the night.