Virginia Tech upsets No. 5 Duke on Chris Clarke’s last second tip-in

Virginia Tech put to bed any questions about its NCAA tournament resume with a 64-63 upset of No. 5 Duke Monday evening at Cassell Coliseum.

Buzz Williams’ team now owns victories over the Blue Devils, North Carolina, Clemson, and they are the only ACC team to knock off No. 1 Virginia.

The latest in the Hokies’ list of upsets came thanks to a string of stops in the game’s final minutes. Duke had appeared to be in control with a 58-49 lead and just 7:08 to play, but did not make another field goal the rest of the game. Virginia Tech took advantage, ending the game on a 15-5 run.

Virginia Tech, it was junior forward Chris Clarke who played hero. The reserve scored the game’s final six points, including a tip-in with less than four seconds to go that proved to be the game-winner.

Grayson Allen’s desperation shot at the buzzer fell short and Duke tasted defeat for the first time since losing at North Carolina on Feb. 8. Despite the miss, Allen finished with a game-high 22 points.

In his second game back after suffering a knee sprain, freshman star Marvin Bagley III posted only 12 points to go with seven rebounds for the Blue Devils. The point total matched the second-lowest of the season for Bagley, who sat out four Duke wins from Feb. 11 through Feb. 22. He returned to the court for the team’s 60-44 win over Syracuse on Saturday.

Freshman guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 17 points for Virginia Tech, which moved to 21-9 overall and 10-7 in the ACC. Duke fell to 24-6 overall, and now has some work to do in order to claim the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament after losing in league play for the fifth time.