CLEMSON, S.C. _ Clemson's solid shooting brought an end to No. 3 Duke's nine-game winning streak on Tuesday night.
On a night when the Tigers shot 56.6 percent, Aamir Simms scored 25 points and Tevin Mack added 22 as Clemson upset the Blue Devils 79-72 in ACC basketball at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Though it shot 50 percent, Duke (15-2, 5-1 ACC) turned the ball over 15 times as to suffer its first loss since Stephen F. Austin beat the Blue Devils 85-83 in overtime back on Nov. 26.
John Newman added 14 points for Clemson (9-7, 3-3 ACC).
Vernon Carey led Duke with 20 points, while Tre Jones scored 17 and Cassius Stanley 14.
Clemson hit 57.7% of its first-half shots (15 of 26), including 5 of 9 3-pointers, to lead 40-33 at halftime. Duke played sloppy at times, turning the ball over nine times while shooting just 46 percent. The Blue Devils missed seven layups over the first 20 minutes.
Trailing by seven points, the Blue Devils quickly cut the deficit to 42-40 by making their first three shots of the second half. Clemson scored the game's next seven points, on layups by John Newman and Mack followed by a Mack 3-pointer, to lead 49-40 with 16:46 to play.
But the Tigers went nearly five minutes without making a field goal, missing five consecutive shots. Jack White's 3-pointer completed a 6-0 Duke run leaving Clemson up 49-46.
Mack's layin with 11:58 left gave Clemson a 52-48 but that would be the Tigers lone made field goal over a stretch of 7:09.
Jones scored the game's next five points, including a pull-up 3-pointer in transition that gave Duke its first lead of the second half _ 53-52 with 10:08 to play.
Simms drilled a 3-pointer with 7:56 to play tying the score at 59 and put the Tigers up for good 63-62 on a layin with 5:24 to play.
Mack's step-back jumper with 4:47 to play gave Clemson a 65-62 lead. After White's basket pulled Duke within a point, the Tigers scored the game's next five points to pull away.
