Men's Basketball ACCtion: Saturday, January 10
Home teams win three of five games in first full weekend of ACC games.



Jan. 10, 2009

Clemson Neutralizes NC State, 63-51

Clemson, S.C. (AP) - Trevor Booker scored 23 points and No. 12 Clemson improved to 16-0 with a 63-51 victory over North Carolina State on Saturday.

The Tigers (2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) are within a win of tying the school's best start, accomplished in 1986-87 and matched two years ago. It won't be easy, though, with undefeated and fourth-ranked Wake Forest up next at Littlejohn Coliseum on Jan. 17.

Clemson struggled until Booker's inside dominance and a smothering defense took its toll on the Wolfpack (9-4, 0-1).

North Carolina State wiped out a 10-point first-half lead and tied the game at 33-all on Trevor Ferguson's drive with 15:18 left. Then Booker led the Tigers on a 24-10 run to take charge.

Booker got things going with an close-in basket. His next bucket pushed the Tigers' lead to 46-36. By the time he ended the surge with three straight hoops, Clemson was up 58-43 with 5:11 left.

The Wolfpack had matched Clemson in the second half, hitting six of its first seven baskets. But they withered against the Tigers baseline-to-baseline pressure, committing five consecutive turnovers that fueled Clemson's decisive run.

 

Maryland Wins ACC Opener, Downs Georgia Tech, 68-61

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Maryland made up for a ghastly 30 minutes of basketball by finally being gracious enough to accept the generosity of bumbling Georgia Tech.

Eric Hayes scored a season-high 17 points, Greivis Vasquez had 16, and the Terrapins took advantage of 28 turnovers by the Yellow Jackets to pull out a 68-61 victory Saturday.

Maryland shot only 32 percent, went 5-for-26 from 3-point range and was outrebounded 49-39. But the Terrapins (12-3, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) won because they outplayed Georgia Tech when it counted most.

After taking a 50-40 lead with 9:44 left, the Yellow Jackets went 4-for-13 from the field with five turnovers.

Georgia Tech (9-6, 0-2) lost to Virginia in overtime in its ACC opener before falling short against Maryland.

Maryland scored the game's final seven points to earn its seventh straight win over Georgia Tech, a streak that began in January 2005. The victory also helped erase the sting of a 1-point home loss to Morgan State on Wednesday night.

 

Henderson Leads No. 2 Duke To 66-58 Win Over Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Duke's Gerald Henderson was just about the only player on target Saturday and that was the difference for the Blue Devils.

The 6-foot-4 junior swingman scored a career-high 25 points, leading the second-ranked Blue Devils to a 66-58 victory at Florida State.

Duke (14-1, 2-0 ACC) ran off the first nine points of the second half during a 41-11 run to build their largest lead of the game, 46-21 with 12:45 left.

Toney Douglas led Florida State (13-3, 0-1) with 18 points, but was just 7-of-23 from the floor as the Seminoles shot just 31 percent.

The first half was believed to be one of the lowest scoring in the ACC since a 45-second shot clock was introduced in the 1985-86 season. It was later cut to 35 seconds.

Duke led 19-14 at the break, making just five field goals — one on a goaltending call to go along with four baskets by Henderson. Florida State scored only four points in the final 13:07 of the half, going scoreless for 7 minutes, 58 seconds at one stretch.

In the second half, the Blue Devils went 7:14 without a basket until Henderson's layup with 5:31 left gave Duke a 53-42 lead.

 

Vassallo lifts Hokies to third straight win over Cavaliers

A.D. Vassallo scored 14 of Virginia Tech’s final 17 points and hit four clutch free throws in the final 10 seconds en route to a 29-point performance to lift the Hokies past in-state rival Virginia 78-75 in an ACC game played Saturday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg.

The win – the Hokies’ fifth in their past six games – marked Tech’s third straight over the Cavaliers and moved the Hokies to 10-5 overall on the season, 1-1 in the ACC. Tech also played its first home game since Dec. 14 and the Hokies moved to 5-1 at Cassell, all of which came just a few days after getting beat handily at Duke.

Tech appeared to have this game under control when it used a 15-4 second-half run to take a 64-49 lead on Vassallo’s 3-point play with 5:23 remaining. But the Cavaliers used a barrage of 3-pointers from Mustapha Farrakhan to climb back in the game. Farrakhan hit four 3-pointers in the final 4:40 and was fouled on another 3-pointer, heading to the line and canning all three free throws.

Virginia cut the Tech lead to 72-70 with 49.7 seconds left on Farrakhan’s final 3-pointer. But on the Hokies’ next possession – coming out of a timeout – Vassallo nailed a short jumper over UVa’s Mamadi Diane with four seconds on the shot clock and 19 on the game clock to give the Hokies a 74-70 lead.

Miami Bests Boston College, 77-71

BOSTON, Mass. (AP) - Dwayne Collins had 13 points with seven rebounds and drew a key charging foul on Tyrese Rice in the final minute Saturday night to lead Miami to a 77-71 victory over No. 17 Boston College.

It was the second straight loss for the Eagles (13-4, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) since they beat top-ranked North Carolina in Chapel Hill to jump into The Associated Press Top 25. BC lost to Harvard on Tuesday and has another top ACC opponent next: No. 4 Wake Forest on Wednesday.

BC pulled within one point, 70-69, thanks to Reggie Jackson's steal and a pair of free throws with 33.9 seconds left. Brian Asbury hit two free throws for Miami, then Collins stood under the basket when Rice drove the lane and took the offensive foul.

Collins went 11-for-14 from the line for Miami (12-3, 1-1), which has won nine of 10.