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Charlotte — In their final play for Georgia Tech, Jeremis Smith and Anthony Morrow were keenly involved Friday night as Smith — with every muscle seemingly straining — had a would-be rebound poked loose, and Morrow then dove out of bounds trying to save the ball.

Then, with a few seconds left in No. 7-ranked Duke's 82-70 win in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, coach Paul Hewitt took them out and the seniors were left on the outside looking in.

That moment, and much of the Yellow Jackets' final game, were metaphors for a season that is over save an unlikely NIT bid, a season that nearly was. Effort was rarely an issue for a team that finished 15-17.

Executing frequently enough, and finishing, were problems Friday and beyond.

Tech trailed by 20 in the first half, and by 19 in the second yet battled ferociously to within 52-50 on Lewis Clinch's jumper with 13:38 left.

"It could have got a lot worse," Morrow said, perhaps speaking both of Duke's big leads and Tech's season. "Guys stayed with us. It was a fight to the death."

But as has been the case all too often in a season that saw the Jackets lose five ACC games at home by a total of eight points, Tech couldn't close out.

And too often, especially as Duke (27-4) charged to a 36-16 lead, the Jackets were literally on the outside looking in - without being able to get the ball there.

"We talked about getting the ball inside, and we did early [taking a 7-6 lead]," Hewitt said. But then, "we weren't moving . . . we hit a lull."

An offense that cooked most of Thursday night in a 94-76 win over Virginia was at times throttled Friday.

"They deny the wing entry [pass] better than any team I've seen, from the point guard to either Anthony Morrow or D'Andre Bell," Smith said. "That's the main thing that really throws our offense off."

That and being out-rebounded 21-9 while Duke made 16 of 28 shots on the way to a 44-29 halftime lead.

Morrow took just eight shots, and made five on the way to 12 points. He made two of three 3-pointers. Smith was limited to 21 minutes by foul trouble, scoring eight points with a team-high nine rebounds.

In the Blue Devils' man-to-man defense, they don't so much try to stay between opponents and the basket; they work to stay between a ball-handler and teammates to whom he might pass. Hewitt said, [They] make you go East and West."

Yet Tech was moving in the second half, outrebounding Duke 20-13, and taking the ball to the basket. Their 19-2 run included layups by Bell, two by point guard Moe Miller (who led Tech with 16 points to Zack Peacock's 13) and two by Gani Lawal as the Jackets cut a 50-31 lead down to 52-50.

But then Duke closed down the lane, and senior DeMarcus Nelson took over.

He scored six points, had three assists, two rebounds and a steal in a 21-8 run to put the game away, grabbing an offensive rebound and dunking for a 73-58 lead with 4:50 left in the game.

He finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Duke won with eight former McDonalds high school All-Americans and distribution. Five Blue Devils reached double-figure points.

It's not often that you outscore an opponent 29-2 in two combined stretches (including 10-0 in the first half) and lose by 12, unless you're outscored 80-41 otherwise.

That summarizes Tech's season: potential flashed, but not sustained.

"Jeremis and Anthony deserve a lot of credit for holding these guys together through all those close losses," Hewitt said. "Down the stretch, they played their best basketball."