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McClinton, Miami hold on to edge Duke

Feb 21, 2008 - 7:16 AM CORAL GABLES, Florida (Ticker) -- Jack McClinton and Miami needed all of its 20-point lead to hold off Duke.

McClinton scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half as the Hurricanes survived a late run en route to a 96-95 victory over fourth-ranked Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference on Wednesday.

Dwayne Collins scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down seven rebounds for Miami (18-7, 5-6 ACC), which snapped a 10-game losing streak against Duke that dated to 1985-86 season.

The Hurricanes also halted a five-game losing streak against the Blue Devils here, notching their first win in South Florida since the schools' first meeting back on December 21, 1962.

Miami also registered its first win against a team ranked in the top five since beating No. 2 Connecticut on February 20, 1999.

"It's a special win," Miami coach Frank Haith said. "The atmosphere we had out there was terrific. But we can't stop. We're still trying to build a resume to make the NCAA Tournament. There's no question this helps."

Early in the second half, Miami appeared as if it was going to end its frustrations in dominating fashion, building up a 59-39 lead after McClinton's 3-pointer with 13:36 remaining.

With one of his two baskets from the arc, McClinton capped a surprising 15-0 run.

"I thought that Frank's (Haith) team played their hearts out," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We knew they were hot coming off of these two great wins on the road. But I am not going to sit here in front of you and not give credit to Miami. Obviously they had a lot to do with that."

However, Duke came back with its own run, closing within 82-75 after Jon Scheyer's 3-pointer topped off a 13-5 burst.

Playing a bit wild with their unexpectedly large advantage, the Hurricanes attempted to tighten up their effort, taking a 90-82 lead following a layup by Raymond Hicks with 1:45 to play.

However, the Blue Devils (22-3, 10-2), who were coming off a disappointing 86-73 loss at Wake Forest on Sunday, pulled within 92-88 on a dunk by DeMarcus Nelson with 36 seconds left.

McClinton was then fouled when Duke could not come up with a steal during a press, and the junior guard split a pair of free throws with 29 ticks to go.

Greg Paulus, who finished with 12 points, got the deficit down to just three points with a driving layup before Miami's Brian Asbury made just 1-of-2 free throws to keep the door open for Duke.

Freshman Kyle Singler then missed a layup, but Nelson grabbed the offensive rebound and scored with five seconds left to make it 94-92.

McClinton, who finished 6-of-7 on free throws, then sank two attempts from the stripe with 1.6 ticks to play, making Nelson's last-second 3-pointer from right before the halfcourt line inconsequential.

Collins shot 12-of-14 from the field en route to scoring 20 points for the first time this season. Behind the sophomore forward-center, Miami finished with a 44-24 advantage in points in the paint.

"Dwayne was outstanding. He played like I think he is capable of playing," Haith said. "We want him to try and go after that and have a better performance like that again. He was outstanding. He was aggressive, he was attacking the rim. That's the post presence we've been wanting and I think Dwayne is very capable."

Asbury finished with 15 points and Lance Hurdle added 13 for the Hurricanes, who shot 57 percent (35-for-61) from the field - their best shooting percentage against an ACC opponent this season.

Scheyer finished with a career-high 27 points and five assists for the Blue Devils, who fell into a tie with North Carolina for first place in the ACC following their first back-to-back losses of the season.

Duke will finish the season against the Tar Heels on March 8.

"Our team, there is something missing this week," Krzyzewski said. "We are not the same team these past two ballgames. It is almost like someone came in and invaded their bodies or something. We have given up 91 points a game these last two games. It's not what we do at Duke, but also it's not what these kids have done. I don't know if it's the time of the year, or if they took a deep breath, or whatever."

Nelson scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and collected three steals for the Blue Devils, who committed 23 turnovers.