By BRYAN STRICKLAND

bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671

DURHAM -- Last season in one of Duke's most embarrassing losses in a long time, Clemson ran the Blue Devils ragged.

Sunday night in the ACC opener for both teams, the Blue Devils returned the favor, leaving the Tigers feeling ragged by not allowing them to run.

Duke's defense put the clamps on Clemson's transition game and put a virtual vice on the Tigers in the halfcourt, holding Clemson to 12 first-half points in a 74-53 triumph at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"Against a great team like Clemson, you wouldn't expect that," said Duke junior Nolan Smith, who scored 22 points to match backcourt mate Jon Scheyer for scoring honors. "To do that against a great team shows that we can defend against some of the best teams in the country.

"We came out from the jump ball and played great defense as a team."

In a 74-47 loss at Clemson last February, Smith struggled along with his teammates, hitting one shot while committing four turnovers as the team totaled 16 field goal and 16 turnovers.

Sunday, the seventh-ranked Blue Devils (12-1) inflicted similar pain. Even with Clemson shooting 57.9 in the second half to threaten to get back in the game, the 21st-ranked Tigers (12-3) shot just 32.7 percent for the game thanks to a 5-for-30 effort in the first half.

The 12 first-half points (Duke led 30-12) and 16.7-percent shooting were lows for a half in Clemson coach Oliver Purnell's six-plus seasons.

"If you shoot 16 percent in the first half and score 12 points, you're not going to win," said Purnell, whose program last won at Cameron in 1995. "You've got to play more than one half in this building."

Clemson didn't even get one good half from All-America candidate Trevor Booker. The Tigers' main man scored 10 points, his second-lowest output of the season, including just two points in the decisive first half.

Duke's four big men scored just 14 points between them -- seven from Miles Plumlee-- but they earned their keep against Booker.

"We played strong," said senior Lance Thomas, often charged with guarding Booker but always flanked by another big man with one eye on his assignment, one eye on Booker. "We've got a lot of depth in that position, so we just kept bringing in bodies.

"I tried not to let him get too many looks, to deny the ball and make him catch it in positions where he wasn't comfortable."

The Tigers certainly weren't comfortable against Duke's halfcourt defense. Clemson actually answered with some solid defense in the first half as well, and on two different occasions, neither team scored for nearly four minutes.

The Devils, however, were the last ones to score before the droughts and the last ones to score after the droughts. The first time, Clemson went nearly eight minutes without a field goal during a 10-0 run that gave Duke a 12-4 lead; the second time, Clemson went nearly seven minutes without a field goal during an 11-0 run that gave Duke a 25-10 lead.

"Our halfcourt defense was really solid," said Duke junior Kyle Singler, who led Duke with nine first-half points and finished with 16. "They couldn't really do anything against it."

The Tigers did, however, show how dangerous they could be in the open court to start the second half, scoring 11 unanswered points in the first three minutes to nearly match their entire first-half output and to pull within 32-23.

Point guard Demontez Stitt, who paced Clemson with 17 points, scored four in the early push.

"Stitt is explosive in the fullcourt and gets them shots and gets you on your heels," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We called a timeout and just said, 'We've got to keep shooting and keep playing.' It's not like we were making many mistakes; we were just missing shots, and they're a quick team.

"We regained our composure."

The Blue Devils soon regained their comfortable margin as well.

Scheyer, who scored 19 points in the second half, stopped the spurt with a tough spinning shot in the lane and then a 3-pointer.

After the teams traded baskets, Scheyer virtually put it away. After Mason Plumlee hit a follow shot, Scheyer doubled back to steal Booker's inbounds pass, took a couple of dribbles and buried a 3 to push the lead back to 42-25.

Clemson, which would never get within single digits again, signaled for a timeout, sending Duke's starters toward an elated Krzyzewski, who met them halfway with a jump and pump of the fist.

"These artificial hips have springs," Krzyzewski said. "It was such a big play."

NOTES -- Duke recognized the 50th anniversary of its 1959-60 team at halftime, honoring the first team in school history to win the ACC Tournament and to win an NCAA Tournament game. Ten players and a team manager were on-hand, along with head coach Vic Bubas and assistant Bucky Waters. "He's the one who first showed that you could win big at Duke," Krzyzewski said of Bubas. ... Duke assistants Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski will debut the Duke Men's Basketball Radio Show tonight at 7 on WDNC-620 AM. The show will originate from the Washington Duke Inn Golf Club. ... Duke returns to action Wednesday when the Blue Devils face Iowa State in Chicago (9 p.m., ESPN2).