Maryland Maryland/Duke Duke Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

ATLANTA – Carlos Boozer shed the crutches four days ago. He was even skipping two days later. Give him another week and the Blue Devils might get their complete team back for a run at the national title.

"This is a real good sign that I'm off the crutches," said the Duke sophomore center.

Boozer suffered a stress fracture in his foot in the loss to Maryland last week. But Duke is 3-0 without him heading into Sunday's ACC tournament title game against North Carolina. All the Blue Devils have done without Boozer is win at Carolina, beat N.C. State and Maryland in the ACC tournament.

"Guys keep stepping up like Casey Sanders and Matt Christensen," Boozer said of his frontcourt mates.

Boozer predicted he will be back in the NCAA Tournament and point guard Jason Williams said the Blue Devils will be that much stronger when he returns. They've learned to play without him and are gaining more confidence with each game.

A team with size could still cause them problems without Boozer but that issue didn't come up last Sunday and might not again a week later against Carolina.

"Now that Carlos is skipping, you know he'll be back real soon," Duke's Jason Williams said.

-- ESPN.com's Andy Katz

James tipped in a missed runner from Jason Williams with 1.3 seconds left, and Shane Battier scored 20 points as the Blue Devils edged Maryland (No. 13, No. 11) 84-82 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals Saturday.

"You just don't fall into those types of plays, you make those plays happen," Battier said. "That's the result of a five-year player making a big play in a big game."

Duke (28-4) will play arch-rival North Carolina in Sunday's championship game.

James was 1-of-9 for four points against the Terrapins on Senior Day as the Blue Devils were handed their worst loss of the season, 91-80 on Feb. 27.

That game ended a stretch for James in which he was 1-for-14 from 3-point range as he lost his starting position to freshman Chris Duhon.

But James remained positive, and coach Mike Krzyzewski insisted he could play a big role in the postseason.

He ended up doing just that Saturday.

"I run my own race," James said. "People say I'm overshadowed, but I just enjoy every game, every season."

His teammates never lost faith that the 6-foot-6 forward would find his game again.

"You don't make the play that he did at the end of the game without being through some wars and having experience in tough games. That was Nate right there," Battier said.

Battier didn't think it would be hard to come back from such an emotional win.

"We're a program of championships and every time we're in a championship situation we get up," he said.

With losses by highly-ranked teams such as Michigan State, Illinois, Florida and Iowa State in conference tournaments, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels both might have locked up No. 1 seeds with ACC semifinal wins.

Duke came into the conference tournament without injured center Carlos Boozer, while North Carolina had lost three of five entering the postseason.

"It's pretty funny because we're the first teams everyone thought would go out, and here we are, the last two standing," Battier said.

Williams added 19 points, and James 14 as the Blue Devils snapped Maryland's six-game winning streak.

"We showed we're a good team," said Maryland's Steve Blake. "We can hang in there with anybody and beat anybody. The thing is we'll just have to stay positive about the way we played. It's tough to talk about right now."

None of James' points were bigger than his last bucket. He went up in a crowd and tipped in the winning shot after Blake's 3-pointer had rallied the Terrapins from a 14-point second-half deficit to an 82-82 tie with 8.1 seconds left.

A half-court shot by Juan Dixon at the buzzer nearly went in, but it bounced off the rim.

"Talk about two teams fighting cleanly and going after it," Krzyzewski said. "I thought Dixon's shot was in. It was right on line."

Maryland (21-10) has not won an ACC crown since 1984.

The No. 6 Tar Heels will try to stop second-seeded Duke from becoming just the third team in 48 years to win three straight ACC tournament titles. They beat Georgia Tech 70-63 in the first semifinal.

The two North Carolina schools separated by eight miles tied for the ACC regular-season title, split the season series and will meet in the ACC title game for the 10th time.

Third-seeded Maryland was making its seventh straight appearance in the ACC semifinals – the second-best run in league history – and rallied down the stretch behind some clutch outside shooting. But it couldn't stop the defending champs when it had to. After Blake's basket, Duke didn't call its final timeout, instead choosing to race down the floor with the ball in Williams' hands. His running shot bounced off the rim, but the strategy worked in the end as James made the game-winning follow shot.

"It seems like I'm always in those spots," Williams said. "I just wanted to get a shot up on the rim. I thought I was fouled but they didn't call it. I just remember seeing it going in while I was laying on the floor. It was the best feeling ever."

Dixon led the Terrapins with 17 points, while Lonny Baxter had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Battier and Williams each hit two 3-pointers during Duke's 19-2 run to start the second half, turning a three-point deficit into a 14-point lead with 15:20 left. Maryland coach Gary Williams was forced to use a pair of timeouts to try to stop the surge.

Mike Dunleavy also hit a shot from beyond the arc during the spurt after Duke had gone 3-for-13 in the opening 20 minutes from 3-point range.

The deficit was methodically erased by Maryland, but in the end the Terrapins fell to 8-17 all-time in ACC tournament semifinals.

"I told our guys after the game I don't think there's anybody out there who is better than us on a given night," Gary Williams said. "Duke came out on fire to start the second half, but we did what we had to do to get back in the game."

ATLANTA (AP) – It's only fitting that seniors Shane Battier and Nate James have Duke (No. 2 ESPN/USA Today, No. 3 AP) on the brink of yet another Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

James tipped in a missed runner from Jason Williams with 1.3 seconds left, and Battier scored 20 points as the Blue Devils edged Maryland (No. 13, No. 11) 84-82 Saturday in the tournament semifinals.

Duke (28-4) will meet arch-rival North Carolina in Sunday's championship game.

Williams added 19 points, and James 14 as the Blue Devils snapped Maryland's six-game winning streak.

Battier has been a part of an ACC-record 124 wins in his four years at Duke.

None of James' points were bigger than his last bucket. He went up in a crowd and tipped in the winning shot after Steve Blake's 3-pointer had rallied the Terrapins from a 14-point deficit to an 82-82 tie with 8.1 seconds left.

A half-court shot by Juan Dixon at the final buzzer nearly went in, but it bounced off the rim.

Maryland has not won an ACC crown since 1984.

The Tar Heels (No. 5, No. 6) will try to stop second-seeded Duke from becoming just the third team in 48 years to win three straight ACC tournament titles. They beat Georgia Tech 70-63 in the first semifinal.

The two North Carolina schools separated by eight miles tied for the ACC regular-season title, split the season series and will meet in the ACC title game for the 10th time.

Third-seeded Maryland (21-10) was making its seventh straight appearance in the ACC semifinals – the second-best run in league history – and rallied down the stretch behind some clutch outside shooting. But it couldn't stop the defending champs when it had to.

After Blake's basket, Duke didn't call its final timeout, instead choosing to race down the floor with the ball in Williams' hands. His running shot bounced off the rim, but the strategy worked in the end as James made the game-winning follow shot.

Dixon led the Terrapins with 17 points, while Lonny Baxter had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Mike Dunleavy also hit a shot from beyond the arc during the spurt after Duke had gone 3-for-13 in the opening 20 minutes from 3-point range.

The deficit was methodically erased by Maryland, but in the end the Terrapins fell to 8-17 all-time in ACC tournament semifinals.

Duke's home white uniforms arrived in time for the game after being left behind for Friday's quarterfinal win over N.C. State. But the Blue Devils looked anything but comfortable, starting 0-for-11 from the field to fall into an early 10-point hole.

Maryland took advantage in the opening minutes and shot 62 percent in the first half, but 12 turnovers cost the Terrapins their cushion.

After Maryland took a 10-0 lead, the score was tied nine times in the final 12:10 of the first half.

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Nate James' put-back tip-in places Duke in the ACC championship game against North Carolina.
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Shane Battier dishes the ball to Jason Williams for the 3-pointer.
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Mike Dunleavy converts the swing pass from Jason Williams into a huge 3-pointer.
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Jason Williams hits a long-range jumper beyond the 3-point arc.
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Mike Krzyzewski thought Juan Dixon's last-second three-point attempt was good.
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Shane Battier and Duke slip past Maryland in the ACC tournament semifinals.
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