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No. 1 Duke clobbers Clemson

Jan 9, 2013 - 5:58 AM Durham, NC (Sports Network) - Quinn Cook collected a career-high 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting, as top-ranked Duke ripped Clemson, 68-40, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Ryan Kelly added 12 points before sitting out the second half with a right leg injury, while Mason Plumlee contributed eight points and 13 rebounds for the Blue Devils (15-0, 2-0 ACC), who next face NC State on the road this Saturday.

"Ryan hurt his foot. We don't know the extent. He'll have to do a cat scan, x- rays and all that," said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We are hopeful that it is not real serious. For precautionary reasons we felt that it was not good to play him in the second half."

Devin Booker totaled 12 points and a game-best 15 rebounds for the Tigers (8-6, 0-2), who seek their first conference victory against Virginia four days from now.

Clemson came out shooting cold, and Duke took advantage, going up 16-6 just past the midway point of the first half thanks to a pair of triples from Kelly bookending a trey from Cook.

Kelly's layup extended the lead to 21-8 a short time later, and Duke took a 25-10 advantage to the break thanks to 12 percent efficiency (3-of-25) by the visitors.

Cook's layup early in the second half made it 34-14, and Clemson finally tightened up defensively, though it was only able to reduce its deficit to 14, at 46-32 on two free throws from Adonis Filer.

Duke took control once more, opening up a 57-37 edge within the next five minutes after a three-point play from Amile Jefferson and cruised the rest of the way.

"I am proud of the way our guys competed. I know the first half was really ugly," said Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. "We couldn't score; we missed a bunch of shots, which I think makes our defense play even better because you are constantly in a transition situation. To hold them to 25 in the first half, I thought our guys really competed and got off to a good start in the first half."

Game Notes

Duke has won five in a row over Clemson and 104 of the 133 all-time meetings ... Clemson's 40 points were a season low, six less than it scored in a 69-46 setback to Coastal Carolina on Dec. 19 ... The Tigers ended up making 15-of-53 field goals (28.3 percent) for the game.