ACC admits to error in Duke win

The Atlantic Coast Conference admitted Friday that a timing error was made in the closing seconds of No. 10 Duke’s 68-66 victory over Clemson on Thursday night at Durham, N.C.

Coordinator of basketball officials John Clougherty said the league reviewed the game film and discussed the clock controversy with the officials, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski and Clemson Coach Oliver Purnell.

“The league acknowledges that a timing error was made in not starting the game clock at the correct time,” said Clougherty, adding the situation was resolved internally.

The confusion started shortly after Clemson’s Vernon Hamilton made a layup to pull the Tigers to within 66-63 with five seconds left.

Josh McRoberts’ inbounds pass for Greg Paulus went right to Hamilton just outside the three-point arc. Hamilton made a three-point basket to tie the score with 1.8 seconds left, which seemed as if it would send the game to overtime.

But officials stopped play to review the time remaining and restored the clock to 4.4 seconds. The clock, which stopped on Hamilton’s layup, did not restart on the steal until the ball was almost in the basket -- a pause of more than a second.

McRoberts then inbounded the ball to Jon Scheyer. Scheyer passed to David McClure, who made a layup as time expired to give the Blue Devils the win.